New York 2015 prison escape will be TV miniseries

Richard Matt, left, and David Sweat escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility, about 100 kilometers southeast of Cornwall, Ont., on Saturday June 6, 2015. Matt was shot and killed by authorities while Sweat was captured near the Canadian border. (Photo/New York State Police/Handout)

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – A three week manhunt, which gripped people in Northern New York and Eastern Ontario, is being made into a TV miniseries.

Nearly 1,000 people showed up at Plattsburgh’s Strand Theater over the weekend to audition for the upcoming miniseries “Escape at Dannemora,” which will air on U.S. cable channel Showtime.

Many waited for hours for the casting call, according to the Malone Telegram.

The movie is produced by Ben Stiller.

The elaborate escape by David Sweat and Richard Matt on June 6, 2015 saw both cons on the run from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, about 100 kilometers southeast of Cornwall, for nearly three weeks.

Matt was shot and killed by authorities. Sweat was caught about a kilometers from the border outside Constable, N.Y.

The Dannemora escape has already had time on the small screen – it was a Lifetime movie called “NY Prison Break: The Seduction of Joyce Mitchell” which aired in April.