Doug Liman to Direct Superhero Series for Quibi

Shortform streaming service Quibi has ordered its first superhero show, with Doug Liman attached to direct it.


Liman's digital production company 30 Ninjas is also producing the show, called Crazy Talented. It's based on a short story by Jumper author Steven Gould — Liman directed a 2008 film based on that novel — and written by Michael Karnow (Alphas).


Quibi's description of the show reads, "The world's most powerful superheroes are trying to stop the world's most devastating threat — alien weapons falling into the wrong hands and obliterating life as we know it. At least that's what they've been told. In Crazy Talented, patients on a psych ward are convinced by a charismatic leader that their defects are actually extraordinary 'talents.' He's clearly out of his mind. But just because it's crazy doesn’t mean it isn't true."


The series is the second Quibi project for 30 Ninjas. The company is also producing Lost co-creator Jeffrey Lieber's sci-fi drama Don't Look Deeper, which stars Don Cheadle and will be directed by Catherine Hardwicke.


Julina Tatlock and Jed Weintrob of 30 Ninjas will executive produce.


Liman's involvement in Crazy Talented makes him the latest in a long list of high-profile creators and actors to work with Quibi as the shortform streamer founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg gears up for a spring 2020 launch. The platform just greenlit an update of the 1999 movie Varsity Blues and has projects from Idris Elba, Darren Criss, Tyra Banks, Jennifer Lopez, Lorne Michaels, Chrissy Teigen and Anna Kendrick, among others, in the works.