Upcoming Miniseries Chronicles Daring 2015 Escape From Upstate Prison

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two Oscar winners are bringing star power to a new mini-series about a dramatic 2015 Upstate prison break.

David Sweat and Richard Matt's mug shots were on front pages everywhere after the convicted killers broke out of maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. They were aided by lovesick prison seamstress Joyce Mitchell.

The manhunt gripped the nation and has now grabbed Hollywood's attention. Director Ben Stiller is finishing Escape at Dannemora in time for a premiere this fall.

"I think this story has every element that would grab Hollywood," Chelsia Rose Marcius, journalist and author of Wild Escape, told CBS2. "There's so much material to work with, there's so much of a story to be told."

Escape at Dannemora is based off of Marcius' book. She spent 100 hours interviewing Sweat, who told Marcius he felt "born again" during his 22 days on the run. In the upcoming miniseries he's portrayed by actor Paul Dano, from 12 Years A Slave and There Will Be Blood.

"David Sweat had not been out of prison for 12 years," Marcius recalled. "Just simple things like seeing the lakes and rivers and mountains were a big deal for him."

Oscar winners Benicio Del Toro and Patricia Arquette star as Richard Matt and Joyce Mitchell, and Sopranos star Michael Imperioli was cast as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Showtime, the network slated to air the miniseries, has not yet released a picture of the actor as the governor.

Cuomo's schedule shows he spent time with Imperioli and series writer Bret Johnson in December.

"I think in the series the governor is a supporting character, but during the event he was a leading man, touring the prison, leading the briefings, he was all over it," Marcius said. "During the escape, during the manhunt he said 'this is made for TV, this is a movie script'."

Sweat certainly had a flair for the dramatic, leaving a taunting note for investigators to find.

Escape at Dannemora is schedule to premiere at a festival in France in October.