Winona Ryder, Alfred Molina and Jon Bernthal have joined HBO’s upcoming miniseries “Show Me a Hero,” a network representative told TheWrap.
From “The Wire” co-creator David Simon, the miniseries is based on the Lisa Belkin nonfiction book of the same name. It tells the story of a mayor, Nick Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac), who’s charged with building low-income housing in his hometown of Yonkers, N.Y. The project brings to the surface class prejudices, almost shuts down the local government and ruins the mayor’s political career.
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Ryder (“Reality Bites,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Girl Interrupted”) will play Vinni Restiano, the Yonkers councilwoman and Wasicsko’s close friend. She lost her seat after her housing vote, but she stages a comeback four years later and becomes city council president.
Molina (“Chocolat,” “Raiders of the Lost Arc”) will play councilman Henry J. “Hank” Spallone, a hard-boiled ex-NYPD detective from the Bronx who became the public voice of the housing opponents.
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Meanwhile, Bernthal (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “The Walking Dead”) will play Michael H. Sussman, a forceful Harvard-trained lawyer who represented the NAACP when it joined the government’s anti-segregation case against Yonkers.
James Belushi, Terry Kinney and Michael Stahl-David also will star. Simon and his “The Wire” cohort William F. Zorzi are writing and and executive producing the six-episode miniseries. Paul Haggis (“Crash”) will direct and executive produce.
Gersh, Anonymous Content and Hirsch Wallerstein represent Ryder. Molina is represented by WME, Hyler Management and Lou Coulson Associates (U.K.), while WME and the Burstein Company rep Bernthal.