A prediction I made on Facebook earlier this week has now come true – yet another acclaimed UK mini-series is getting remade by Hollywood – “House of Cards” says The Hollywood Reporter.
Media Rights Capital and acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher (“Seven,” “Zodiac”) are teaming to develop a one-hour drama based on Michael Dobbs’ original novel and the famed Emmy-winning 1990 mini-series starring Ian Richardson.
Fusing black political comedy with elements from Macbeth and Richard III, the original was set at the end of Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister and follows a scheming British politician with his eye on the top job.
MRC and Fincher’s adaptation will change the setting to the U.S. but maintain focus on issues of political ambition and blackmail. The project will be shopped around to networks soon.
The project is merely the latest in a rush of British mini-series being adapted for the US market. This year’s “State of Play” with Russell Crowe, the upcoming Mel Gibson thriller “Edge of Darkness” and the recently announced Ridley Scott project “Red Riding” have seen six-hour British period-reliant dramas made in the past decade being adapted and compressed into contemporary two-hour US-set remakes.
The concern here is will it work? Aside from “The Office”, British productions have rarely translated well across the Atlantic with previous efforts in recent years either proving disastrous (“The Singing Detective,” “Blackpool/Viva Laughlin”) or notably inferior to their predecessors (“State of Play,” “Life on Mars”).
