You might have been wondering why there’s been a dearth of reports this week about new film-to-TV adaptations. Don’t worry, that dry spell has ended as Paramount announced that they’ll be hauling out yet another title from its film back catalogue. Bringing us the news is The Wrap, who are reporting that the 1980 flick, American Gigolo, will be getting the TV treatment.
Paramount TV and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions will co-produce the the project, which slated to reboot the gritty crime drama for a captive home audience. This co-op effort will mark the second time Bruckheimer has been involved with the title, as he produced the original feature. An eighties classic, it perpetuated Richard Gere’s trend of making women’s knees quiver as a naughty gigolo in trouble with the law. It hardly strikes as a property that lends itself to a TV adaptation, but then again, none of the hundreds of others earmarked for the same treatment do either.
The decision to unnecessarily revive Gigolo stems from Paramount Television’s new president, Amy Powell, who has been instrumental in creating a new development roster. “When it comes to making great television entertainment, Jerry Bruckheimer Television is in a league unto themselves,” she said in reference to the project.
“With its signature noir aesthetic, ‘American Gigolo’ has remained a deeply entertaining, psychological thriller and I’m thrilled to partner with Brad and Amy on remaking it into a television series,” said Bruckheimer.
American Gigolo will join a long succession of film revamps Paramount TV are attempting to resurrect, which includes Ghost, The Truman Show, Narc, Shutter Island and Terminator. Will any of them make it to pilot? Who can say at this point! But one question definitely remains with regards to Gigolo: will Gere be back to strut his stuff?