The critically-acclaimed, cult-favorite gangster film Sexy Beast, which netted Ben Kingsley an Oscar nomination, could be getting a television prequel series.
Deadline reports the television rights to Sexy Beast have been acquired by Paramount Television and Anonymous Content, who will look to shop the project to networks and streaming services. Michael Caleo (The Sopranos, Rescue Me) is set to write the adaptation, which will reportedly be an origin story for the movie’s characters, following low-level criminal Gal Dove (Ray Winstone in the original film) as he partners with Don Logan (Kingsley) and begins working for underworld kingpin Teddy Bass (Ian McShane). The prequel will explore the “vibrant and volatile” criminal world of London.
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Sexy Beast, released in 2000, was directed by Jonathan Glazer and written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto. The film followed Dove, a former criminal that had moved to Spain with his wife, as he was pulled back into the game by former associate Logan, under the orders of crime lord Bass.
Kingsley’s role in Sexy Beast earned him an Oscar nomination and a Critics’ Choice Award. Sexy Beast also won a Special Recognition (for excellence in filmmaking) award from the National Board of Review, and Best Director and Best Screenplay from the British Independent Film Awards.
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Previous collaborations between Anonymous Content and Paramount Television have produced Epix’s Berlin Station, Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, TNT’s The Alienist, and Catch-22, which will premiere on Hulu.