EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ has picked up Before, a limited series starring Billy Crystal, who also will serve as executive producer, Deadline has learned. I hear details on the project, including the size of the order, are still being finalized.
Written by Sarah Thorp (The Bounty Hunter) and to be directed by Barry Levinson, Before stars Crystal as Eli, a child psychiatrist who recently lost his wife when he encounters a troubled young boy.
Crystal, Thorp, Levinson and Eric Roth executive produce the series from Paramount Television Studios.
2022 Apple TV+ Pilots & Series Orders
This marks a rare ongoing TV series role for comedy great Crystal who previously starred in ABC’s Soap and FX’s The Comedians. Crystal and Levinson served together as executive producers on the 2002 film Analyze That. The two also teamed for a feature project in development five years ago.
Emmy winner Crystal, who had a memorable appearance at the Tony Awards on Sunday, recently starred in the film Here Today and reprised his voice role as Mike in Disney+’s animated series Monsters at Work.
In TV, Oscar and Emmy winner Levinson executive produces Showtime’s City on a Hill and Hulu’s Dopesick. His upcoming series include Peacock’s The Missing and AMC’s Monsieur Spade. In features, he most recently directed and produced The Survivor.
Roth recently co-wrote Dune and wrote the upcoming Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon.
