‘Oldboy’ English-Language TV Series in the Works From Park Chan-wook, Lionsgate

EXCLUSIVE: Gato Grande–an Amazon MGM Studios company–has set their first English-language comedy series titled Climax from Mexican American writer Elena Crevello (Grace and Frankie, American Auto, Vida). The project is currently being shopped.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Peaky Blinders’ and ‘Gangs of London’ star Joe Cole and ‘True Spirit’ and ‘Titans’ actor Teagan Croft have both just wrapped contemporary neo-noir thriller Override, the fourth feature from directing duo Natasha Merkulova and Alexey Chupov. It marks the English-language debut for the Russian helmers, whose Captain Volkonogov Escaped played in Venice’s Competition strand in 2021.

EXCLUSIVE: Almost 30 years after they first started working together on Saturday Night Live, Molly Shannon and Steve Koren have re-teamed for a comedy series, which is in development at HBO. Shannon and Koren are executive producing the untitled project, written by Koren and starring Shannon.

EXCLUSIVE: ABC Signature has acquired The Redemption of Al Sharpton, the recent Esquire profile of the civil rights activist by Pulitzer Prize winner Mitchell S. Jackson, to develop as a limited series. No talent is attached at this point but the intention is for Anthony Anderson to star as Sharpton and executive produce. Artists First’s E. Brian Dobbins (black-ish) also is expected to executive produce the project, now in very early stages, with Jackson getting a producing credit.

Following his first foray into television with 2018’s “The Little Drummer Girl,” Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook returns to Western television this month with the espionage thriller series “The Sympathizer” on HBO (read our review). And the director is already quickly putting together another project for the small screen, a series adaptation of his 2003 revenge masterpiece “Oldboy.” Variety reports that Chan-Wook is partnering with Lionsgate Television on the adaptation of the English-language series based on his film of the same name.

Park Chan-wook is developing his acclaimed film Oldboy for the first time as an English-language series in partnership with Lionsgate Television. Park, who directed and co-wrote the original film, is set to produce the series alongside producing partner Syd Lim.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Break out the dumpling wrappers and mahjong sets because “Crazy Rich Asians” is coming to Broadway. The beloved romantic comedy is being developed as a Broadway musical by director Jon M.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The upcoming video game “Spine” is already being eyed for film and TV adaptations. Variety learned exclusively that “Spine” developer Nekki has teamed with Story Kitchen to develop potential adaptations of the game. “We’re pleased to begin our journey with Story Kitchen,” said Nekki CEO Dmitry Terekhin.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details of the first episode of HBO‘s limited series The Sympathizer, which premiered on April 14.

The Cannes Film Festival has just revealed (another) a dazzling lineup for its 77th edition.

Deadline reports.The show will pick up years after the original series — which ran from July 1992 to March 1999 — and provide an update on its beloved characters. While many of the plot points, and cast members for that matter, remain shrouded in mystery, it was verified that the new reboot would involve the death of one of the original characters prompting the return of Amanda Woodward (Locklear), Sydney Andrews (Zuniga, 61) and Jo Reynolds (Leighton, 55). “When one of their dearest friends dies suddenly, the residents of ‘Melrose Place’ gather to honor the deceased,” the show’s logline reads.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Apparently TV can’t get enough “Melrose Place.” The campy sudser from the 1990s, which was already rebooted once in the 2010s, is looking to make another comeback — and this time with three of the OG stars. Heather Locklear (who was always billed as a “special guest star” back in the day, although once joining the drama she quickly took lead), Laura Leighton and Daphne Zuniga are all back to reprise their roles in the latest reboot, this time from writer Lauren Gussis. Gussis will also exec produce with Leighton, Zuniga, Tiffany Grant and Jason Weinberg.

EXCLUSIVE: Welcome back to WeHo. Three popular Melrose Place original cast members, Heather Locklear, Laura Leighton and Daphne Zuniga, are reuniting for a followup to the 1990s staple. A Melrose Place reboot, with the trio attached to star, is in development at CBS Studios and is currently being shopped to networks and streamers, Deadline has learned.

EXCLUSIVE: Tim Kring‘s Heroes is eyeing a second encore with Heroes: Eclipsed, a new incarnation of the popular 2006 superhero drama series, sources tell Deadline. Appropriately, the project is being pitched to buyers now, the week of the solar eclipse. (The original series started off with a solar eclipse in the pilot, which became a recurring element throughout the series, also reflected in its logo.)

There is so much going on in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 novel “The Sympathizer” that it would take a team of true craftsmen even to attempt to unpack it in episodic form. HBO is lucky they hired one of the best in Park Chan-Wook, a supremely and undeniably talented director.

Korean auteur Park Chan-wook (“Old Boy”) is moving along at a nice clip. On the way is his HBO period spy series “The Sympathizer,” which comes out later this month, and potentially next is his long-gestating remake of the dark comedy “The Ax.” And while that’s undoubtedly an abundance of great projects in the works, there are even more on the horizon.

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar is making his English-language feature debut with “The Room Next Door,” which has heavy-weight actresses Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton in lead roles. There is a casting report that says Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Menu,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”) has taken part in the pic as well.

Execs on NBC‘s The Americas were seeking “the American version of David Attenborough” when booking Tom Hanks for the upcoming epic wildlife series.

There have been a lot of cast changes on The Bold and the Beautiful in recent months!

A French adaptation of Beta Film‘s International Emmy-winning Turkish thriller series Persona is in the works with a female protagonist.