Well, this is a weird one.
Variety has announced that a television remake of American Gigolo will soon be coming to Showtime.
The movie, based on the film starring Richard Gere in 1980, is a romantic crime-drama that follows Julian Kaye, a high-end male escort in Los Angeles. When Kaye gets entangled with a politician’s wife, he soon finds himself in some very hot water.
Of all the movies to reboot, this may seem like an odd choice (which it is), but Paramount TV and Jerry Bruckheimer Television have been working with this project for two years. Admittedly, both companies have notable reboot television projects in their past: Amazon’s Jack Ryan was picked up by Paramount TV, and Bruckheimer TV is expected to have a rebooted Enemy of the State developed by ABC.
Showtime only recently came into the mix, but the project is moving forward quickly. Neil LaBute is already on board to write for the show, and Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman are serving as the executive producers. Even Paul Schrader, the man behind the original American Gigolo, has a place in the show as an executive consultant.
American audiences always do enjoy crime and romance, but the rapid development of the Richard Gere-inspired series does seem a little strange. But maybe we should all sit back and thank our lucky stars NBC isn’t trying to do a live-action version of Chicago.