page_title: Pilot (The Deuce)
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Pilot (The Deuce) / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: James Franco at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
context_page_description: "Pilot" is the first episode of the American television drama series The Deuce. It premiered on September 10, 2017, on premium cable network HBO; the pilot was released in advance on HBO streaming service HBO Go on August 25. The episode was written by creators and showrunners George Pelecanos and David Simon, and was directed by Michelle MacLaren.
context_section_description: In August 2015, it was reported that HBO had picked up two David Simon pilots, one of which being The Deuce, which would star James Franco and be directed by Breaking Bad regular Michelle MacLaren. In September, Maggie Gyllenhaal was cast as a Times Square hooker in the pilot, which was set to begin filming in the fall of that year. In preparation for the project, she consulted with former prostitute and porn star Annie Sprinkle. “She had some very simple helpful insights... How many people do you fuck a night, what do you do if it’s really cold.” Gyllenhaal also went to the set of a porn shoot in Los Angeles, having been invited by a former adult film star who was working craft services for the shot. Of the project, Simon said "We’re interested in what it means when profit is the primary metric for what we call society. In that sense, this story is intended as neither prurient nor puritan. It’s about a product, and those human beings who created, sold, profited from and suffered with that product... Porn, prostitution, pimps, the Mob, after-hours nightlife, institutional corruption, and New York in its Wild West heyday ... it’s a world rich in character, and a fascinating story we’re eager to tell."
  Filming began in October 2015, and in January, 2016, the pilot was picked up for series.
caption: James Franco was the first actor to sign on to the project
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