Bravo's anthology series Dirty John has found its titular grifter. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Eric Bana will play Dirty John's titular character, a real-life man who was first introduced to true crime fans via the Los Angeles Times podcast of the same name. Bana will join Connie Britton, who, after departing Fox's 9-1-1 as a series regular, was cast as Debra Newell, the woman who fell head-over-heeles for John... to disastrous results.
Bana, who recently starred in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, already seems like a great choice for the role. That's because the Time Traveler's Wife actor is exactly as handsome and charismatic as John Meehan was reported to be. Meehan, a criminal, wooed multiple women in order to extort their fortune, and often posed as a doctor in order to make himself seem like not such a dirty, no-good dude.
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By the time Meehan met Newell, he had ran his scheme multiple times over. However, the saga of the so-called "Dirty John" would come to an extremely violent, and ultimately very surprising conclusion — but if you want to figure out what that is, you should probably listen to the podcast.
It's unclear just how closely Bravo's upcoming series will stick to its source material, but I think it's fair to say that the story of Dirty John doesn't need much fictionalization to make itself quite the twisted ride. That should make this role a fun one for Bana to play: Who doesn't like portraying a sociopathic liar every once in a while?
As true crime podcasts continue to fascinate mass audiences, we can likely expect other TV shows like Dirty John to pop up. (Who should play Serial's Adnan Sayed?) I'm sure Bana's portrayal of John won't do us dirty.