‘Parasite’: HBO Content Boss Peels Back The Wall On TV Adaptation – TCA

Peter White

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After news broke that HBO was set to make a limited TV series based on Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-nominated thriller Parasite, the #bonghive came alive asking how the series would follow the film and how it would deal with the ending’s dark twist.

The WarnerMedia-owned network is leaving that question up to Bong Joon Ho and Adam McKay, who are set to start working on it in March, with HBO President of Programming Casey Bloys telling Deadline that it’s a “gift” to work with the pair together.

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“It’s exciting that you have Bong on board and also Adam McKay. To work with them individually would be a gift but to work with them together, working on what this could be, I’m going to follow their lead. When they get together and figure out what they want it to look like, I will take their lead,” Bloys said.

The Korean dark comedy/horror thriller was directed by Bong Joon Ho and written by Bong and Han Jin Won. The film stars Song Kang Ho, Lee Sun Kyun, Cho Yeo Jeong, Choi Woo Shik, Park So Dam, Lee Jung Eun and Chang Hyae Jin and revolves around the members of a poor family who together scheme to work in a wealthy household by posing as unrelated, highly qualified help. It has been a huge box office success, becoming the first Korean film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

The series will be produced by CJ Entertainment, the studio behind the feature film, McKay’s Hyperobject Industries and Dooho Choi’s Kate Street Picture Company. Bong and Succession exec producer McKay will executive produce with Choi for Kate Street, Miky Lee, Cho Young Ki and Francis Chung for CJ Entertainment and Kevin Messick for Hyperobject Industries. CJ Entertainment’s Jerry Ko is co-executive producer and Fred Lee is a producer.

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Bloys added, “What’s really exciting about it, is, obviously, the movie is brilliant and it takes on a topic that is pretty pervasive among many cultures, which is income inequality and how it’s a destructive force in our society and societies around the world.”

Earlier this week, Bong Joon Ho told Deadline that he admired McKay’s The Big Short and loved his sense of humour the sharp satire about current American politics. “With Parasite, while I was writing the script I had so many more ideas I couldn’t convey into the two-hour running time of the film. I knew that if I had a longer running time, I would be able to tell these stories, and I that’s what I plan to talk about with Adam pretty soon.” He added that he is open to discussions as to whether the series will be in English or Korean.

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