Is ‘ROMANCING THE STONE’ Headed For The Small Screen?
With the internet filled with rumours about who is about to be cast in the big screen remake of the 80’s flick ‘Romancing The Stone‘, attentions seem to have rapidly switched to a potential TV adaptation in a bid to get this idea moving – according to Deadline!
The TV series, bought by the NBC network, will be based on the 1984 Robert Zemeckis movie which starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Those involved in this new project include 20th Century Fox TV, Shawn Levy and Marty Adelstein’s studio-based 21 Laps/Adelstein Prods, along with ‘The Forgotten‘ creator Mark Friedman who will pen the series adaptation – which Levy will direct from (if he’s available).
In the original movie, Turner starred as romance writer Joan Wilder who sets off to Colombia to hand over a ransom for her kidnapped sister, and it’s not long before she too finds herself in the middle of a dangerous adventure. Douglas plays an American bird exporter, Jack T. Colton, who winds up helping Wilder in her quest to rescue her sister.
The NBC version won’t be that much different from the movie, as this story will follow a successful but unfulfilled woman who teams up with a fearless adventurer to take on weekly missions as part of a larger quest to track down her missing brother. So not a million miles from Zemeckis‘ idea!
It begs the huge question as to why networks around today are so keen on creating TV shows based on movies, when Hollywood is normally obsessed with doing this the other way around. As much as I personally enjoyed the original movie, I’m not so sure that it warrants a TV series version. TV networks either seem to have enough to have money to throw into the fire, or they’re putting a hard emphasis on speculating to accumulate(?). Tough call!
I hope NBC doesn’t fall flat on its face with this idea.
