Michael Fassbender

Source: John Russo

Michael Fassbender

Michael Fassbender has been set to star in Kennedy, a Netflix drama series with Thomas Vinterberg directing the first and last of the eight episodes. 

Produced by Netflix and Chernin Entertainment and based on Fredrik Logevall’s book JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956, the historical drama follows the famous Kennedy family from the 1930s through their rise to the top of the US political establishment. Fassbender will play family patriarch Joe Kennedy Sr. 

Sam Shaw will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Danish filmmaker Vinterberg, making his first foray into US episodic directing, will also serve as an executive producer. 

The other executive producers are Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and Kaitlin Dahill for Chernin Entertainment, Eric Roth, Fredrik Logevall, Lila Byock, Anya Epstein, Dustin Thomason and Anna O’Malley. 

Shaw said: “The story of the Kennedys is the closest we have to American mythology — somewhere between Shakespeare and The Bold and the Beautiful. But Fredrik Logevall’s stunning, nuanced biography pulls a veil on the human strivings and burdens behind the myth, revealing as much about our present moment, how we got here and where we’re going, as about the Kennedys themselves. I’m thrilled to be able to explore this saga of a family and a world in transition with Eric Roth, Thomas Vinterberg and our incredible band of artists and partners, at a moment when our past feels urgently present.”

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