Showtime lands TV remake of “American Gigolo”

November 4, 2016 - 12:27 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Showtime is expanding its remake footprint. The premium cabler, which is already rebooting Twin Peaks, has landed the TV remake of American Gigolo, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

First put in development two years ago, the project hails from Paramount TV and Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the 1980 Paramount film starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton.

Neil LaBute has boarded the reboot and will pen the script for the drama that is set in the present day but inspired by the original feature about a male escort in Los Angeles who falls for a politician's wife at the same time he is the prime suspect in a murder case.

Bruckheimer will executive produce via his Jerry Bruckheimer TV banner alongside Jonathan Littman. KristieAnne Reed will co-executive produce, while James Oh will produce. Paul Schrader, who directed and penned the screenplay for the film, is attached as an executive consultant.

American Gigolo becomes the latest film-to-TV project for Paramount, which is mining its library for content. The studio has reboots of The Italian Job (NBC), Shutter Island (HBO) and School of Rock (Nickelodeon) as well as Jack Ryan (Amazon) in the works.

Reboots continue to remain in high demand as broadcast, cable and streaming outlets look for proven IP in a bid to cut through a cluttered scripted landscape that is quickly approaching 500 original series. Key to the remakes is having the original producers involved in some capacity as more studios look to monetize their existing film libraries.

Already in the works this season are reboots of Sneakers (NBC), Enemy of the State (ABC), Dynasty (The CW), War of the Worlds (MTV), Magnum P.I. (ABC), The Lost Boys (CW), Varsity Blues (CMT), The Departed (Amazon), Let the Right One In (TNT) and L.A. Law, though the latter does not yet have a network attached.

Should American Gigolo move forward, it would join Bruckheimer TV fare including Lucifer (which just nabbed a full 22-episode season-two order at Fox) as well as ABC's Enemy of the State.