It was recently announced that HBO has given Bored To Death creator Jonathan Ames the go-ahead to start working on a telefilm screenplay based on his acclaimed-yet-cancelled series, but that's not the only project that he's currently working on with star Jason Schwartzman. The friends have now also picked up the rights to Bernard Malamud's short story collection Pictures of Fidelman and are planning to adapt it as a feature.
Described by The Hollywood Reporter as a "1950s Rome-set comedy," the story follows the titular protagonist Arthur Fidelman, who is "a hapless art student" who decides to go on a trip to Italy. Schwartzman and Ames will reportedly focus the film on the stories "Still Life" and "Naked Nude," but the trade doesn't get into any detail regarding what those individual plots are about and mentions that details from other stories could find their way in as well. Schwartzman will star in the film as Fidelman, which hopes to shoot on-location in Rome once financing is secured.
The report also adds that Ames is also planning to turn Donald Westlake's novel 361 into a feature, though he seems to being going without Schwartzman on that adventure. Instead he's working on that script with Matt D'Elia, who wrote and directed the dramedy American Animal in 2011, which premiered at SXSW.
Schwartzman recently finished working with Tom Hanks on the upcoming feature Saving Mr. Banks, and is currently shooting Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel. His latest movie, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, is now available on VOD and will be in theaters in limited release on February 8th.
(Image credit via Zimbio.com)
