Michael Mann Direct Ansel Elgort Ken Watanabe HBO Max Pilot Tokyo Vice – Deadline
Michael Mann has been set by HBO Max to direct the pilot episode of Tokyo Vice, the drama series that stars Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe. Mann will potentially direct more episodes of the series in its freshman season, and he becomes executive producer alongside J.T. Rogers, John Lesher, Emily Gerson Saines, Alan Poul, Elgort, Destin Daniel Cretton and Watanabe.
Move brings an A-list filmmaker to one of HBO Max’s first drama series, and was written by Rogers based on Jake Adelstein's non-fiction first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat. The drama captures Adelstein's daily descent into the neon soaked underbelly of Tokyo, where nothing, and no one is truly what or who they seem. It is informed by his memoir Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter On The Police Beat In Japan.
Production on the series begins in February on location in Japan. Endeavor Content is serving as the studio as well as handling international sales.