ShowtimeAmerican Gigolo
Showtime
Premieres: Sept. 11
Airs: Sundays at 9pm ET/PT
Who’s In It? Jon Bernthal, Gretchen Mol, Rosie O’Donnell
What’s It All About? It’s got to be unnerving to step into Richard Gere’s iconic 1980 role, but Jon Bernthal makes it look easy in this present-day reimagining of the neo-noir film. Bernthal, who’s been delivering a nonstop tour de force of memorable characters — Shane in The Walking Dead, Frank Castle in The Punisher, Lee Iacocca in Ford v Ferrari, Sgt. Jenkins in We Own This City — is a guy you just notice. Uncovering his chiseled chest and cocking a sexy grin, Bernthal is a natural in the lead role of Julian Kaye, a tender man who, after being wrongfully convicted, is released after 15 years in prison and is left to navigate his complicated relationships with his former lover Michelle (Gretchen Mol), his dysfunctional mother and the people who betrayed him. The eight-episode series also stars Rosie O’Donnell as the no-BS detective who put him away originally but now seeks the truth in what turns out to be a much larger conspiracy.
Flashbacks of Julian’s life are interspersed throughout the series and bring back memories of the original film, particularly when it comes to the stylish setting and Julian’s wardrobe. “Taking inspiration from the original Armani designs for Julian Kaye and trying to stay true to the heart of that character, while also reimagining him 15 years later, was the goal we set out to accomplish,” tells costume designer Stephani Lewis. “While we didn’t choose to incorporate a lot of new costumes into present-day Julian’s closet, we did make the decision to pay homage to the high-fashion concepts of the original film in flashbacks where we exposed his past life with more exuberance and flair. The tricky and fun part of the whole process was portraying two different characters who exist within the same person and making both feel authentic and natural to the world they inhabit.”
Money, greed, power and loyalty all play into this stylish story about redemption.
