Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’ Series Remake Set from Director J.C. Chandor

Francis Ford Coppola‘s 1974 masterpiece “The Conversation” will be remade as a TV series, with “Margin Call” and “All Is Lost” filmmaker J.C. Chandor attached to both write and direct the series, IndieWire has confirmed.

Chandor will direct via his CounterNarrative Films banner alongside Temple Hill, producer Adam Fishbach, and executive produced by Coppola’s American Zoetrope. Erin Levy, known for her work on “Mad Men” and “Mindhunter,” will be the showrunner on “The Conversation” remake.

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MRC is the studio behind the series, and the company optioned the TV remake rights directly from the Coppola estate.

Despite a rumor that Aubrey Plaza was attached to star, no cast is involved at this stage, as a source close to the project tells IndieWire. Other media reports suggested it would be a limited series and that it was set up at a network, but it is being envisioned as an ongoing series, and MRC will take the project to market.

“The Conversation” reboot will, however, be gender-flipped from Gene Hackman’s role in the original film. Here’s the official logline for the series:

Based on Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal 1974 film, “The Conversation” follows luddite Harry Caul, a surveillance specialist obsessed with privacy, as she becomes entangled in a corporate espionage mystery that is bigger than she ever imagined. As she gets deeper, the surveillant becomes the surveilled, and she’ll have to step outside of her reclusive life and make the personal connections she’s been avoiding to find answers, and save herself.

“The Conversation” is one of Coppola’s best films, starring Hackman in a slow-burn thriller about a “bugger,” a surveillance specialist who fears that his work will be used to murder a couple whom he’s spying on. The film stars John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams, Teri Garr, and even Harrison Ford in a small role. “The Conversation” was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and for the legendary Walter Murch’s impeccable sound design, and it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

Chandor most recently directed the Sony Marvel movie “Kraven the Hunter,” which was meant to open last year but was delayed by the strikes and will now open August 30, 2024. Levy was also a co-executive producer and writer on the series “Counterpart.”

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