‘DR. DEATH’ SHOWRUNNER PATRICK MACMANUS ON ADAPTING THE TERRIFYING TRUE STORY
First Published on ihorror.com
DR. DEATH, BASED ON THE POPULAR PODCAST AND THE TERRIFYING TRUE STORY, DROPS ON PEACOCK TODAY.
The series follows the career of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (Joshua Jackson), a surgeon working in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas who permanently maimed or caused the death of 33 out of 38 patients on whom he operated. Yet, it was only after two fellow surgeons (Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater) began to question his credentials and methods that hospitals and an assistant district attorney (AnnaSophia Robb) took notice of what was happening.
It’s a story that is undeniably complicated which is one of the things that drew showrunner Patrick Macmanus to the material when the podcast was sent to him with the question of a screen adaptation attached.
“I found the story compelling, and I also found the characters compelling,” he said as he sat down to chat with iHorror about the show. “So I threw my hat in the ring. I put together, very briefly, the overall idea of the show. I’m talking three quarters of a page where I talked about dual timelines and how the dual timelines will meet in episode seven and basically a very bare bones structure and pitched what I found most compelling. And they gave me the gig. It’s just been an extraordinary experience. I couldn’t be happier with he cast and the crew and the writers who save my ass everyday in the writer’s room.”
In exploring the complexity of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, Macmanus knew early on that this was not someone that could easily be placed in a box. Nor was he was he a person you could simply put a black hat on and stand them under a flashing neon “Villain” sign.