HBO will premiere its newest drama series, Boardwalk Empire, starting tonight, January 6, 2011.
The 12-part epic series is produced by Terence Winter, executive producer, the creator of The Sopranos, another HBO original hit. Award-winning director Martin Scorsese is also on board as one of the show's executive producers.
Scorsese directs the pilot episode, which features Steve Buscemi, an actor who has created unique and unforgettable characters in movies such as Con Air (1997) and Reservoir Dogs (1992).
Boardwalk Empire is set in America during the 1920s. World War I had just ended. The Senate amended the Constitution, making the manufacturing and selling of alcohol illegal throughout the United States. Called the Prohibition Era, this period saw the rise of a profitable black market for alcohol.
It was a time of change when women got the right to vote, broadcast radio began and Wall Street was beginning to boom.
Atlantic City is the setting of the series, back when it was known as "The World's Playground," a place where rules didn't apply. Hotels along the Boardwalk had casinos, night clubs, amusement piers and great entertainment that rivaled Broadway.
Steve Buscemi plays Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, the town's treasurer and great political fixer who is both a politician and gangster.
During the Prohibion Era, liquor was banned and alcohol was a much desired commodity. Atlantic City becomes the hub of activity for rumrunners or persons engaged in bringing prohibited liquor ashore or across a border. Because of Atlantic City's strategic location near prosperous cities such as Philadelphia, New York and Chicago, Nucky takes full advantage of this and milks it for all its worth. He is also in cahoots with his brother Elias (Shea Whigham), the town's sheriff, in order to circumvent the law.
Nucky even did business with the well-known mafia leaders at the time: Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg), "Big Jim" Colosimo (Frank Crudele), "Lucky" Luciano (Vincent Piazza) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham).
Nucky rules the town until the arrival of his former protégé and driver, Jimmy Darmody (played by Michael Pitt). He betrays Nucky by informing the Feds, led by Agent Nelson Van Alden (Michael Shannon), about his illegal deals.
Complicating matters further is Nucky's burgeoning relationship with Margaret Schroeder (Kelly Macdonald), a woman in an abusive marriage whom he tries to help.
The show was inspired by the non-fiction book, Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson.
This HBO original series also stars Michael Kenneth Williams as Chalky White, leader of the city's African-American community; Dabney Coleman as Commodore Louis Kaestner, Nucky's mentor; Paz de la Huerta as Nucky's girlfriend Lucy; Aleksa Palladino as Angela, Jimmy Darmody's Bohemian girlfriend and mother of their three-year-old son; Paul Sparks as Mickey Doyle; Anthony Laciura as Eddie Kessler; and Gretchen Mol as Gillian, a local showgirl with whom Nucky shares a long and complicated history.
The Asian premiere of Boardwalk Empire will feature two episodes playing back-to-back tonight, January 6, at 9 pm on HBO / HBO HD. New episodes will air every Thursday at 9 pm.