Matthew Rhys to Play PERRY MASON on HBO

I really like Matthew Rhys, but not sure he's Perry Mason. However, I am thrilled that at least the HBO redo will be set in an historical time period. I will reserve judgment until I see the production. This HBO entry is not the courtroom Mason that we know from Raymond Burr on TV. Rather, it's from a time in Mason's life when he was living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator.

So here's the info from Dateline:

HBO's long-in-the-works Perry Mason drama is officially moving forward.

The Americans grad Matthew Rhys has been tapped to star in the limited series, taking over the title role from Robert Downey Jr. The latter will remain on board as an executive producer on the series, which is searching for a director. 

Based on the characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner, HBO's Perry Mason will follow the character at a time in his life when he is living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator. Mason is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and is suffering the effects of a broken marriage.
 
Here's the official logline, from HBO: "1932, Los Angeles. While the rest of the country recovers from the Great Depression, this city is booming! Oil! Olympic Games! Talking Pictures! Evangelical Fervor! And a child kidnapping gone very, very wrong! Based on characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner, this limited series follows the origins of American Fiction’s most legendary criminal defense lawyer, Perry Mason. When the case of the decade breaks down his door, Mason’s relentless pursuit of the truth reveals a fractured city and just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself."

The character of Perry Mason, a Los Angeles defense attorney, served as the inspiration for the CBS series of the same name. The drama ran from 1957 to 1966 and starred Raymond Burr in the title role.
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