When Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez decided to permanently shut down an “enemy” television because its political remarks were enough on the “left side”, he ticked off a lot of his supporters because the station was host to one of the more popular night-time soaps. Pedro Almodovar is looking to bring his beloved Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown to the small screen and despite the fact that it would be carried out in English, I would not be surprised if it comes with the trademark stylization of Latin American soap operas along with the master filmmaker’s use of strong vivid colors, dynamic characters, great decor and the kind of twisted humor we originally found in the 1988 film (this was my first introduction to Almodovar and a very young Antonio Banderas). My first reaction is exactly the same as how pleased I was when the filmmaker who had made Dune, Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart took a job in television writing and directing.
I don’t do much TV news so I’m a bit late with my story here, but THR details
that Fox TV Studios is developing the English-language hourlong project and has tapped Mimi Schmir to pen the pilot script. Almodovar and Schmir are exec producing. I wonder whether this is one of the first moves under Peter Rice’s guard – he recently moved from Fox Searchlight to head the television unit. The project would perhaps sideline Almodovar’s future feature film projects.
