Sopranos Mastermind David Chase to Write HBO Limited Series on CIA Mind Control Initiative
David Chase is set for a comeback to television. The iconic mob drama visionary will write MKUltra, a mini-series centered around the Central Intelligence Agency's covert Cold War period mind control program for the premium network.
About the Series
The project, initially revealed by industry sources, marks Chase's first series since the era-defining HBO mob drama. The dramatic thriller, based on John Lisle's non-fiction work Project Mind Control, focuses on Sidney Gottlieb, referred to as the "dark magician" who oversaw the MKUltra initiative, the agency's clandestine psychedelic program that administered hallucinogenic drugs, hypnosis, and physical coercion on willing and unwilling subjects from the early 1950s until it was halted in 1973.
Research Activities
Gottlieb directed these tests in the interest of state safety, to counter the perceived threat of Russian and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He's also known as the inadvertent father of the psychedelic movement, as he brought the substance to the CIA in the 1950s, in an attempt to investigate the potential of controlling the human mind. Some test subjects were willing individuals from the agency, military officers and college students who had awareness of the purpose of the experiments. Additional subjects, however, were psychiatric inmates, prisoners, drug addicts, and sex workers forced or deceived into substance administration that in some cases resulted in permanent damage.
Chase's Legacy
Chase earned five Emmys for his hit series, a intricate narrative about a New Jersey-based mafia family widely credited with starting the peak era of high-quality TV. Since the show, featuring the late James Gandolfini, wrapped in 2007, Chase has mostly focused on feature films. He wrote, directed and produced the 2012 film Not Fade Away. He also co-wrote and produced The Many Saints of Newark, a Sopranos prequel starring Michael Gandolfini, that premiered in 2021.
TV Comeback
His return to TV follows he declared the period of ambitious TV dramas in some ways defined by his show to be a “blip” that is now finished. Speaking to a major publication for the show’s 25th anniversary, the 78-year-old claimed that he had been told to “dumb down” his screenplays in discussions with executives and advised against producing TV content that was overly intricate.
He linked that perspective in part to his encounter trying to make a series with the writer Hannah Fidell about a high-end sex worker who ends up in federal protection. In numerous meetings with executives, he said, they were informed “the unfortunate truth” that it was not straightforward enough. “Who is this all really for?” he remarked. “I guess the stockholders?”
"It appears we are disoriented, and viewers struggle to concentrate, hence we cannot create content that is overly logical, engaging, and demands focus from the audience," he continued. “And as for streaming executives? It is getting worse. We’re going back to where we were.”
