HBO’s Times Square Porn Drama is Back on Essex Street Today
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The area surrounding Essex and Rivington Streets is apparently the backdrop of choice for HBO’s new period-drama, The Deuce. Filming returns to the neighborhood today after a brief hiatus.
Evoking the nickname bestowed upon 42nd Street of yore, The Deuce explores the “legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s” until the rise of HIV and rebound of the real estate market. The pilot is written by David Simon and long-time collaborator George Pelecanos, and directed by Michelle MacLaren.
James Franco is also attached to the project and plays the role of twin brothers who are mob players in this oft-romanticized underworld. Maggie Gyllenhaal co-stars as a Times Square prostitute.
The Deuce premieres on HBO sometime in 2017, date unknown.
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