Bob Odenkirk to play journalist David Carr in AMC's 'Night of the Gun' miniseries

NEW YORK, June 7 (UPI) -- Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk is to play David Carr in a six-part, AMC-Sony Pictures Television miniseries based on the late journalist's bestselling memoir The Night of the Gun.

Odenkirk and screenwriter Shawn Ryan are executive producers on the drama, along with Marc Provissiero of Odenkirk-Provissiero and Joshua Astrachan of Animal Kingdom, which originated the project. Eileen Myers is also attached as an executive producer and writer.

"David Carr's work as a journalist was uncompromising, enlightening, and most of all, always driven by a fundamental quest for the truth. When he turned those skills and values around to focus on his own life as an addict, the result was a stunningly original, compelling and important piece of journalism the likes of which the world had never seen -- a simultaneously heartbreaking, funny, and inspirational account that redefined the idea of telling a personal story," Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV, said in a statement Monday. "Shawn Ryan, Bob Odenkirk, and the incredible team behind this have embraced all the things that David would have loved as a storyteller, and crafted a vision for The Night of the Gun that we hope will be as timeless as David's book."

"I read David's story, The Night of the Gun, when it came out and was wildly entertained by his saga. It's a story of survival filled with pain, crack, journalistic righteousness, abandoned cars, crooks, lies, and then there's the two little girls who saved his life; it's overstuffed with humanity," Odenkirk added. "Shawn Ryan is the man to explore this real anti-hero story. I hope to do justice to David's intellect and his scrappy nature. It's gonna be crazy... if we do it right."

Carr died last year from complications of lung cancer. He was 58.