HBO unveiled a new trailer for the upcoming drama seriesThe Deuceright beforelast night’s eventful episode ofGame of Thrones. The new show hails from executive producers and creatorsDavid SimonandGeorge Pelecanos, the brains behind one of the best TV shows of all time,The Wire. Their new venture takes place in early 1970s Times Square, covering the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in the city through the mid-1980s. But while this salacious aspect is the “in” for the series, the show is aboutmuchmore than pornography. Indeed,back in 2015Simon told us his lofty aim for the series:
“If it works, it will not be because it’s prurient. It will not be making porn to critique porn. And it won’t work because it’s puritan and sneering at the people that were there when that industry came together after the Supreme Court made it legal. It will work because it’s a story about human beings, and it’s a critique of market capitalism. That’s the purpose of the piece. It’s a product that didn’t exist, and then it existed. What happened to the human beings that made it come to be, and what was the cost of that? If we can affect that and stay on that fence, and not be either sneering at it or indulgent in it, it will be a worthwhile piece. If we don’t, then God help us.”
This new trailer has a very strongThe Wirevibe, as we start to see the focus expanding a bit and covering different aspects of the industry. I’m also really loving the aesthetic approach to the series—grounded and realistic, but not distractingly so. It should come as no surprise thatBreaking BadveteranMichelle MacLarenhelmed the pilot and last episode of the season and serves as an executive producer. StarJames Francoalso directs two episodes of the eight-episode first season.
Check out the newThe Deucetrailer below. The series starsJames Franco,Maggie Gyllenhaal,Gary Carr,Margarita Levieva,Lawrence Gillard Jr.,Dominique Fishback,Emily Meade,Gbenga Akinnagbe,Chris Bauer,Chris Coy,Natalie Paul, andMichael Rispoli.The Deucepremieres on Sunday, September 10th.
Here’s the official synopsis forThe Deuce:
THE DEUCE follows the rise of the porn culture in New York from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world of the sex trade from the moment when both a liberalizing cultural revolution in American sexuality and new legal definitions of obscenity created a billion-dollar industry that is now an elemental component of the American cultural landscape. Beginning in 1971, the show follows a cast of barkeeps, prostitutes, pimps, police and nightlife denizens as they swirl through a world of sex, crime, high times and violence and the porn business begins its climb from Mafia-backed massage parlors and film labs to legitimacy and cultural permanence.
