Birdman Michael Keaton is back with yet another socially aware film, Dopesick. Based on the 2018 non-fiction bestseller by journalist Beth Macy, the Hulu film will look at the opioid epidemic as it spread from the introduction of OxyContin in the 1990s America.
The Spotlight star will play Samuel Finnix, an old-school doctor who approaches his practice with kindness and compassion. But soon he finds himself embroiled in Big Pharma’s deadly secret.
As per the official synopsis, Dopesick will take an ambitious, harrowing, and compelling look into the epicenter of America’s struggle with Opioid addiction.
It will begin from a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA, and to the opulence of ‘one percenter’ Big Pharma Manhattan.
Titled Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America, the book brings deeply human portraits of the various affected families while holding up a mirror to where America is right now as well as shining a hopeful light on the heroes battling the worst drug epidemic of its history.
Coming from a journalist who has lived through the events it depicts, the book became a NYT bestseller. The dark history of corporate greed and regulatory indifference has been effectively portrayed while taking an in depth look at the communities dealing with the crisis.
The book was a timely release given than the episodic epidemic killed more people in a decade than the HIV epidemic since the 1980s.
The introduction of Michael Keaton as the headliner has raised our expectations from this Hulu original by huge proportions.
The veteran actor’s roles in landmark films like Oscar-winning and also a journalism-based film Spotlight as well as in Birdman sets the benchmark pretty high for Dopesick.
The limited series will be directed by Barry Levinson, of Rain Man, Diner, and Bee Movie fame. Dopesick is planned to premiere on Hulu sometime in 2021.
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