Following in the footsteps of seemingly almost every single 80s/90s film out there, Get Shorty is now the latest movie set to receive the television treatment. Yup, that’s right, EPIX and MGM are teaming up to produce a show based on Barry Sonnenfeld’s 1995 film.
THR is the one with the report, telling us that Davey Holmes will serve as creator and executive producer, with the general plot set to make a few tweaks to Elmore Leonard’s original story:
The dark comedy centers on Miles Daly, who works as muscle for a murderous crime ring in Nevada. For the sake of his daughter, he attempts to change professions and become a movie producer, laundering money through a Hollywood film. But instead of leaving the criminal world behind, he accidentally brings it with him to Los Angeles.
So, while there are several changes (most noticeably the name and setting), the television show still looks to have a similar premise to its predecessor, which is no bad thing. Get Shorty is a wildly entertaining film that still mostly holds up even by today’s standards. Plus, Elmore Leonard is a tremendous writer and most of his work fares quite well when adapted, so we’re definitely excited to see what EPIX can cook up here.
In a statement announcing the project, EPIX president and CEO Mark S. Greenberg had this to say:
We’re excited to be working with MGM on Get Shorty. I had the pleasure of working with Elmore Leonard early in my career and I am a big fan of his writing. Davey Holmes is a tremendous talent and has created a fantastic new series that is in the spirit of Leonard’s unique brand of social satire and strong narrative voice. Get Shorty promises to be yet another example of the type of high-end, premium TV that EPIX is committed to delivering to its subscribers.
While a lot of these recent television adaptations of well known movies have fallen flat on their face, Get Shorty just might work on the small screen. If nothing else, we hope that it will at least be better than the god awful Be Cool, which is the last time we saw these characters brought to life.
Tell us, are you excited about a Get Shorty TV show? Or are you sick of Hollywood trying to turn every single film from the 80s/90s into a TV series?
