Showtime To Adapt ‘Animal Kingdom’ As Series
Veteran US television producer John Wells is set to oversee the series.
According to Deadline, a drama series is currently in the works based on David Michod's acclaimed local crime thriller Animal Kingdom.
The series will be executive produced by John Wells, the TV veteran whose credits include such top-billers as ER and The West Wing and who recently made his directorial feature debut with this year's The Company Men, a bruising but timely look at corporate downsizing.
Wells will once again partner with his fellow Southland producer Jonathan Lisco (the creator behind the short-lived cops drama K-Ville) who will develop the script, supposedly a crime drama about a crooked, presumably-now American clan as they battle the police as well as each other.
While the script is being developed independently from the creators of the original film, writer/director David Michod and producer Liz Watts are attached to the series as executive producers.
The 2010 film, which generated real buzz when it won the World Cinema Jury Prize at Sundance last year, was inspired by Melbourne's infamous Pettingill crime clan headed by matriarch Kath Pettingill, a fictionalised version of whom was played by Jacki Weaver with the actress, of course, scoring a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.
This scoop for Showtime represents the recent growing trend of US television series drawing inspiration (whether they admit it or not!) from hit films - both new and classics.
