Add another filmmaker making the exodus to the small screen. "Amelie" director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is headed to television to helm "The Phantom Of The Opera," but this version won’t be the story you know from Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s Broadway smash.
Penned by Tony Krantz (the producer behind "24" and "Felicity," among others), this new take is "a drama brimming with tortured love affairs, sex, murder and mystery among the international jet set at the dawn of the Jazz Age, the Phantom Of The Opera series is set in 1919 against a backdrop of the Paris Peace Conference. The story centers on a British World War I fighter pilot with burns covering half of his body. He finds himself at the center of a string of murders that threatens to embroil the city’s gathered world leaders. The ‘Opera’ in this re-imagining is an opera house that is home to the hottest nightclub in Paris —think Studio 54— whose American Josephine Baker-esque headliner finds herself in the cross hairs of the serial killer." Interesting stuff, although that premise will rely on getting the tone just right. But one to keep an eye on. [Deadline]
AMC has snapped up the Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie limited series "The Night Manager," based on John le Carré‘s novel. The story will follow "a former soldier turned hotel auditor who becomes embroiled in a conflict between a mysterious woman and a black-market arms dealer." Just tell us when it’s on and we’ll be there. [AV Club]
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are executive producing an as yet untitled Fox comedy with a bold premise. Penned by "30 Rock" writer Colleen McGuinness, who will also executive produce, the show centers on "a 25-year-old woman who works at a frozen yogurt shop and whose life is going nowhere —until she discovers she is telekinetic." [The Wrap]
You may have forgotten, but last year the wheels were put in motion to turn the Bradley Cooper movie "Limitless" into a show. And now it has a home at CBS. Neil Burger, who directed the film, will helm the pilot centering on "Brian Sinclair…as he discovers the power of the mysterious drug NZT, and is coerced into using his newfound drug enhanced abilities for good." [Deadline]
HBO is turning the gears on "Bros" from "Red Tails" director Anthony Hemingway. The comedy "centers on three African-American brothers —two straight and one gay— who are each dealing with love and dating." [Deadline]
