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Deadline

Producer Steps Away From HBO Porn Industry Project Amid Questioning Over Woman’s Death

Oct 6, 2015  •  Post A Comment

An Emmy-nominated producer is stepping away from his production role on a new HBO project while he deals with issues stemming from the death Sunday of a woman in New York. Deadline.com reports that Marc Henry Johnson will step away from work on the David Simon series pilot “The Deuce.”

Shooting is scheduled to begin Wednesday, Oct. 14. The report quotes a source with knowledge of the situation saying Johnson is distancing himself from the project for now.

“Johnson has been questioned by investigators in connection with the death of dermatologist Kiersten Cerveny, a married mother of three who was found unconscious in a Chelsea apartment building Sunday morning; police have been quoted as saying her death is consistent with a cocaine overdose and is not being treated as a homicide,” Deadline reports.

Johnson is not expected to be charged in Cerveny’s death, according to media reports. But Deadline notes: “Johnson and Cerveny ended up at the five-story walk-up in Chelsea very early Sunday morning. Investigators have security camera video from inside the building showing Johnson and another man carrying her downstairs hours later, police are quoted as saying in various news reports.”

Johnson reportedly tried to perform CPR on Cerveny and called 911, remaining with her until emergency personnel arrived.

“The Deuce” focuses on the porn industry in Manhattan in the 1970s and 1980s. The report notes that Johnson, who received an Emmy nomination as a producer of the 1999 Michael Moore series “The Awful Truth,” played a key role in documenting the story of twin brothers who became the inspiration for “The Deuce.”

The brothers, described as mob fronts in New York’s sex industry, are both played by James Franco in the pilot.

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