Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg to star in Hulu’s THE LOOMING TOWER!

Hulu are assembling a truly extraordinary cast for their upcoming drama The Looming Tower, as the great Jeff Daniels and Michael Stuhlbarg- plus Bill Camp and Tahir Rahim- have signed on to the series.

 

Based on Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book, the series traces the rising threat of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, taking a controversial look at how the rivalry between the CIA and FBI may have inadvertently set the stage for the tragedy of 9/11 and the war in Iraq.

Daniels will star in the 10-episode drama as John O’Neill, the determined, bull-headed chief of the New York FBI’s Counter-Terrorism unit. The character is rightly convinced that the U.S. has been targeted for attack by Al-Qaeda, and faces deliberately insufficient cooperation from other facets of the federal government, particularly from his counterpart at the frequently antagonistic CIA. A man of appetites, O’Neill is a lover of expensive food and drink, and is involved with at least two girlfriends, neither of whom know about his wife and children.

Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man) will play Richard Clarke, the counter-terrorism czar of the Clinton Administration. Reporting directly to President Bill Clinton for security and infrastructure protection, Clarke chairs regular inter-agency meetings, but is unable to stop the territorial squabbling between John O’Neill of the FBI and Martin Schmidt of the CIA.

Camp (The Night Of) will play Robert Chesney, an FBI veteran with John O’Neill’s counter-terrorism unit in New York. Nearing voluntary retirement age, Chesney is from a different era, when the FBI was concentrated on domestic organized crime. Despite that, his highly developed instincts and interrogation techniques lead him to extract vital information from suspects in the fight against al-Qaeda.

The two join previously cast star Tahar Rahim (The Last Panthers). Dan Futterman (Foxcatcher) penned the adaptation and will executive produce with Alex Gibney (Going Clear) and Wright. The drama hails from Legendary Television.

Looming Tower marks the latest TV role for Daniels, who won an Emmy for his lead role in HBO’s Aaron Sorkin drama The Newsroom. He next stars in Netflix’s Steven Soderberg Western limited series Godless. On the big-screen, the actor is currently in production on The Catcher Was a Spy. His credits include The Martian, Dumb & Dumber as well as Good Night, and Good Luck. He’s repped by ICM Partners.

In addition to Boardwalk Empire, Stuhlbarg’s credits include Doctor Strange, Arrival, Transparent and A Serious Man. The actor, whose upcoming roles include season three of Fargo and Call Me By Your Name, is repped by ICM and Viking Entertainment.

The actors appeared together in Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs.

Camp, who co-starred in The Night Of, has also recently appeared in the films Jason Bourne, Loving and Gold in addition to roles in Manhattan and Damages. He is repped by Innovative Artists.