Toni Collette is the latest name to join HBO’s limited true-crime series ‘The Staircase’, she joins Colin Firth who plays the lead.
The eight-episode series will follow novelist Michael Peterson (Firth), his North Carolina family, and Kathleen’s suspicious death. Collette will take on the role of Kathleen.
Harrison Ford was initially rumoured to have been attached to star in the role now filled by Firth.
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The documentary from director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade delved into the story of Michael Peterson, a crime novelist accused of killing his wife Kathleen after she is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home, and the 16-year judicial battle that followed. De Lestrade was granted unusual access to the case immediately following Kathleen’s death in 2001 in Durham, NC. Her husband, Michael, a local public figure and successful novelist, quickly became the prime suspect and was convicted. Lestrade returned to the case a few years later for a three-part follow-up to the case, which aired on Netflix.
Antonio Campos (“The Devil All the Time”) and Maggie Cohn (“The Girl Before”) serve as writers and showrunners with Campos set to direct six of the eight episodes.
Collette can currently be seen in the Netflix movie ‘The Stowaway’ and will also star in the streamer’s upcoming drama ‘Pieces of Her.’.
