Yesterday, Variety reported that Paul Giamatti will play John Adams in a seven episode HBO miniseries based on the David McCullogh bestseller John Adams.  Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are executive producing the project, which begins filming in Virgina in January, and is slated to air in seven hour-long parts starting in March 2008.

The miniseries will focus on Adams’ time as a Massachusetts lawyer working behind the scenes to facilitate the American Revolution rather than on his time as the second President. I have not read McCullogh’s book, but apparently it is partly based on the famous correspondence between Adams and his wife Abigail during the period (these letters are also immortalized in the musical 1776).

I’m very excited by the idea of this project, and I think Giamatti is a great choice to play Adams.  I was just rewatching Cinderella Man, a highly underrated movie, last night, and he’s great in it. I’m glad he’s moving on to bigger and better things after the fiasco of Lady in the Water. I also can’t wait to see who else will be cast. This almost makes up for the cancellation of Deadwood, HBO—but only almost. Actually, no, it doesn’t, but it’s a good start at getting back in my good graces.