five days at memorial

Vera Farmiga is set to star in the new Apple TV+ Original, Five Days At Memorial, a limited series from Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Emmy winner Carlton Cuse (Lost) that chronicles the first five days at a New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

Apple announced that Vera Farmiga (When They See Us) will star as “Dr. Anna Pou” in Five Days At Memorial, a limited series for Apple TV+ based on the acclaimed non-fiction novel by Pulitzer-winning author Sheri Fink on the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Ridley and Cuse will write and executive produce Five Days At Memorial, as well as serve as directors on the limited series. Fink will also serve as producer. The series comes from ABC Signature.

Fink’s non-fiction book chronicles the first five days at the Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, devastating the city and injuring, killing, and displacing thousands of its residents. “When the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers were forced to make life-and-death decisions that haunted them for years to come,” Apple teased of the series, likely referring to the criminal allegations that arose after several health professionals injected several patients with drugs to hasten their deaths.

Here is the synopsis for the book Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (via GoodReads):

In the tradition of the best investigative journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amid chaos.

After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose to designate certain patients last for rescue. Months later, several health professionals faced criminal allegations that they deliberately injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten their deaths.

Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting, unspools the mystery of what happened in those days, bringing the reader into a hospital fighting for its life and into a conversation about the most terrifying form of health care rationing.

If anyone can play a morally ambiguous doctor who makes the wrong call in a terrible situation, it’s Farmiga, who has excelled at playing chilling monsters and likable heroes alike. But her schedule is pretty packed — the Godzilla vs. Kong actress is currently in production on Hawkeye and is also set to star in both Michael Chaves’ Conjuring 3 opposite Patrick Wilson and Lawrence Konner’s Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, both due in 2021. She’ll likely be able to star in Five Days At Memorial once Hawkeye wraps.

No release date has yet been set for Five Days At Memorial.

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