László Nemes joins Jack the Ripper series
Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes is attached to direct and co-write Sickert, a limited drama series about painter Walter Sickert and theories linking him to Jack the Ripper. The Hollywood Reporter reported his involvement on 6 October.
Adam Baroukh will co-write the series, with Alexander Rodnyansky producing through AR Content. Nemes will also be an executive producer. The announced story takes place in London in 1888 and follows Sickert between artistic circles and the lives of people on the margins of society. In the fictional plot, he attracts the attention of Scotland Yard and begins to question his own innocence. That storyline should not be read as evidence that the real artist was investigated by police at the time.
The murders associated with Jack the Ripper took place in London's East End in 1888. Police linked the deaths of five women to the same killer, whose identity remains unconfirmed. London Museum cautions that the total number of victims is uncertain and that later speculation has often rested on little evidence. Allegations identifying Sickert as the murderer are also disputed: OnFife, which cares for works by the artist, describes the theory as disproved.
Sickert, who lived from 1860 to 1942, painted music halls, modest interiors and people living in poverty. His artistic career extended well beyond the Victorian period in which the series is set. The Petit Palais in Paris records that he returned to London in 1905 and developed ambiguous scenes of everyday life, including the Camden Town Murder paintings. Those later works belong to a different period from the Whitechapel killings. The museum also identifies his influence on Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, placing his work within the development of modern British painting.
The Hollywood Reporter says Nemes intends to draw on historical records and Sickert's paintings to shape the series' visual style. The director is known for Son of Saul, his 2015 Holocaust drama, which won an Oscar. The project brings him together again with AR Content, which produced his film Orphan. The report names no cast, broadcaster, filming schedule or release date, leaving the timing and distribution of the planned series unconfirmed.