Deadline is reporting that Paul Bettany has signed on to play Ted Kaczynski, the notorious Unabomber, in The Disney Channel’s upcoming FBI crime drama Manifesto, which is being produced by Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti through their Trigger Street Productions company.
Manifesto “explores how the FBI caught infamous criminal masterminds, with the first season set to focus on FBI agent Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald, a specialized linguist who challenged old-school ways with a radical approach to intelligence gathering. His unconventional means brought the Unabomber to justice after a near 20-year manhunt when he discovered that the key to unlocking his true identity could be found in the language of “The Manifesto,” a detailed account of some of Kaczynski’s plots.”
The pilot for Manifesto has been written by Black List writer Andrew Sodroski, with Greg Yaitanes (House) serving as showrunner, as well as directing all of the episodes.