Prepare for the term “Stockholm Syndrome” to re-enter public consciousness in a big way. CBS is in the midst of developing a limited series based on Patty Hearst, arguably the most famous, textbook example of the famed psychological phenomenon.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the as-yet untitled project will “revisit the story of the granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, who was abducted from her Berkeley, California, apartment by the terrorist group Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in 1974.” If ordered to series, the project will center on the “19-month FBI/police search and capture of Hearst, who turned SLA sympathizer and changed her name to Tania.” The dramatic case played out in a highly-publicized trial, with Hearst galvanizing the nation. The prosecution attacked Hearst’s character and sexual ethics in the courtroom, and questioned whether she had in fact been raped by her captors, as she alleged.
A film based on Hearst from the writers of FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” is in the works at Fox 2000. Given the current demand for true crime — and the stranger than fiction trajectory of the case — it’s unsurprising that Hearst, who now goes by the name Patricia Hearst-Shaw, is the subject of multiple projects.
