Media Rights Capital, the company behind Netflix's House of Cards, is looking to Ben Stiller for its next series.
The independent studio is in late development and already exploring casting ahead of a series order for an adaptation of Gary Shteyngart's best-selling novel Super Sad True Love Story, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Based on Shteyngart's award-winning novel (New York Times notable book of the year, Salon book award, etc.), Super Sad True Love Story is a one-hour dramedy set in the near-future that explores the unlikely relationship between a bookish man stuck in a tech-obsessed society and a complex, materialistic young Korean-American woman. While navigating this romance he must also contend with mounting demands from his charismatic boss, who is himself being pressured by the domineering American government.
Shteyngart and Karl Gajdusek (Last Resort, Dead Like Me) co-created the TV adaptation and will co-write the script. Stiller is attached to executive produce via his Red Hour Films banner.
A network is not currently attached as MRC hasn't yet taken out the project. Per MRC's typical business model, the dramedy will likely go to series before a network is attached, as was the case with House of Cards and, more recently, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Hilary Swank, Ed Harris and Ed Helms starrer The One Percent, which landed at Starz.
For Stiller, Super Sad True Love Story marks his latest foray into television. His credits include Comedy Central's Big Time In Hollywood, FL, and Another Period as well as IFC's The Birthday Boys, among others.
Gajdusek is repped by Verve, Management 360 and Kleinberg Lange. Stiller is with WME and Gang Tyre.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
