In the wake of the Clinton Correctional Facility Escape of 2015, I wrote that “the sad but oddly touching saga of Joyce “Tillie” Mitchell is a movie waiting to happen. I’m imagining a serious drama starring Melissa McCarthy in a potentially riveting dramatic performance. Or maybe it’s an HBO movie — I need to think this through.

The saga has since been made into an eight-part Showtime series called Escape at Donnemora, and the hotshot creative guy isn’t Rudin, Elwes or DeLuca but Ben Stiller, who’s executive produced and directed. And Mitchell (“Shaw-skank” in the parlance of the N.Y. Post) isn’t being played by Melissa McCarthy (too bad) but Patricia Arquette. Benicio Del Toro and Paul Dano are portraying Richard Matt and David Sweat, the inmates who were able to sexually seduce Mitchell and convince her to help them escape.

Boilerplate: The 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape took place on June 6, 2015, when two inmates, Richard Matt and David Sweat, were discovered missing during a 5:17 a.m. bed check at the maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility. Matt and Sweat were both in for murder. Roughly three weeks later Matt was shot and killed near Malone, New York. Two days later Sweat was shot and taken into custody. The manhunt and investigation was said to cost about $23 million.”

I’m not getting the Elton John tie-in. Then again I never understood what “Take Me To The Pilot” meant.