Matt Shakman has been hired to direct the pilot and three additional episodes of Discretion, a new legal thriller series for Paramount+ starring Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning. He will also executive produce.
According to Deadline, the series comes from A24 and landed at Paramount+ last October with a straight-to-series order. Production is set to begin later this year.
Discretion is written and executive produced by Chandler Baker, author of The Husbands, based on his own fictional short story. The story centers on Lenny, played by Fanning, a summer associate at a prestigious Dallas law firm who uncovers a web of NDAs concealing a dark secret. When she realizes she signed the same agreement, she finds herself at odds with the firm's most powerful female partner, Sharon, played by Kidman, disrupting a mentor-protégé relationship in the process.
Shakman and Fanning have worked together before. He directed the pilot of Hulu's The Great, starring Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, which earned him a directing Emmy nomination.
Shakman's recent credits include the pilot and finale of Apple TV's Wild Things, starring Jude Law and Andrew Garfield as Siegfried and Roy, as well as The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He also earned an Emmy nomination for directing the Marvel series WandaVision. He is separately attached to direct an untitled Planet of the Apes film at 20th Century.
Executive producers on Discretion include Baker, Shakman, Susannah Grant, Kidman and Per Saari via Blossom Films, Elle Fanning, Dakota Fanning, and Brittany Kahan Ward via Lewellen Pictures, Joe Hipps via A24-based Cut To, and Jordan Cerf via Linden Entertainment.
