Hunger Games writer and Captain Phillips screenwriter Billy Ray is working on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Last Tycoon drama.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ray is collaborating with HBO to develop Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel The Last Tycoon. The drama will be a new take on Roman a Clef, inspired by real life producer Irving Thalberg. It follows Monroe Stahr (based on Thalberg) and his Hollywood career as studio executive while showing his conflicts with Pat Brady (based on studio topper Louis B. Mayer). The show will bring light to Hollywood in the 1930s regarding true violence, sex and towering ambition.
Ray will write the script, executive produce and direct the pilot. Also executive producing are Perri Kipperman, Josh Maurer, David Stern, Alix Witlin and Chris Keyser. Keyser also serves as showrunner.
Fitzgerald’s work was left unfinished at the time of his death. Edmund Wilson, a friend and critic of Fitzgerald, collected notes and the unfinished work was published in 1941.
Keyser is also attached to another reboot, CBS’ take on Charmed.