Director Derek Cianfrance has had a tumultuous year. After 12 years of development and struggle, he finally found an eager distributor his divorce drama Blue Valentine. The Weinstein Company, who bought the Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams feature, planned to open the film at the end of December with the hopes of generating award season attention. Then disaster struck when the MPAA decided the dressed down sex scenes made the movie too salacious for an R rating and branded Blue Valentine with the dreaded NC-17 label. Ultimately, the Weinsteins fought for an appeal, the rating was overturned and the controversial film found its way to theaters last week. (You can read my review here.)
2011 is already looking up for Cianfrance, as he begins teasing his next feature, The Place Beyond the Pines, and now Deadline reveals he’s working with HBO to create a single-camera comedy series based on Sam Fussell’s memoir Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder. The premium cable show will be co-written by Fussell and Cianfrance and will center on Fusell’s post-collegiate years, when he, a 90 lbs. nerd, was unexpectedly drawn into the gym-rat subculture. Expect an eye-opening look at the world of bodybuilding with a fish-out-of-water comedy flare.
While a promising premise from the network known for such offbeat comedies as Flight of the Conchords, Eastbound & Down, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, I’m unsure what to expect from the untested Cianfrance. As a fan of his grounded and raw drama, I’m curious to see what he can manage in the comedy realm, and how his penchant for improvisation will shape the proceedings.
How about you? Are you interested in Muscle?