The wild tale of Siegfried & Roy conjures up its leads
They’ve got magic to do, just for you: The long-gestating biopic project about Siegfried & Roy (the act name for Las Vegas performers Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn) is finally coming to fruition at Apple TV+. On Monday, the streamer announced the German-born entertainers will be played by British actors Jude Law and Andrew Garfield. Only Murders in the Building co-creator John Hoffman will serve as writer, showrunner, and executive producer on the limited series, which is set to go into production this fall, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wild Things is based on the podcast of the same name by Emmy-winning writer and filmmaker Steven Leckart, which tracked Siegfried & Roy’s journey from their childhoods in post-war Germany (“Both Siegfried and Roy’s fathers were violent, rage-filled alcoholics, scarred by years of fighting as Nazi soldiers,” per The Guardian) to meeting and developing their magic-and-animal training act (and a private romantic relationship) that would make them Vegas legends, to the near-fatal onstage tiger attack that effectively ended their careers. According to the synopsis (via THR), the show “tells the wild ride relationship tale of two of the greatest showman-magicians in history who, along with their white tigers, are tasked with turning Sin City into a family-friendly destination. The duo push the concept of illusion versus reality to the extreme, personally and professionally, until tragedy reframes and opens a mystery surrounding their last fateful Las Vegas show.”
Apple has nabbed a pretty A-list cast of movie stars for this series. Playing Siegfried (the magician) is Law, whose previous television credits include The Young Pope and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Playing Horn (the animal trainer) is Garfield, whose most recent television credit is Under The Banner Of Heaven. (Before that, his most notable TV appearance was probably on Doctor Who.) Both will also executive produce the series alongside Marvel’s latest go-to guy Matt Shakman (The Fantastic Four: First Steps), who will direct the pilot.
Roy Horn died of coronavirus in 2020, while Siegfried Fischbacher died of pancreatic cancer in 2021.