Posted in: Hulu, TV | Tagged: black widow

Black Widow: Emmy Rossum Set for Hulu's Series Take on 1987 Film

Hulu has greenlit a series remake of Black Widow, based on the 1987 noir thriller. Emmy Rossum is set to star and executive produce.

Does anyone remember Black Widow? No, not the Marvel character played by Scarlet Johansson or her mediocre movie, but the 1987 noir thriller directed by Bob Rafelson, who made classic 1970s movies like The Last Detail and Five Easy Pieces. So many people weren't even born when that movie came out. Well, now Hulu has given a series order to a TV series written and executive produced by Liz Meriwether (New Girl, The Dropout).  Emmy Rossum is executive producing and in negotiations to star in the lead cop role.

Black Widow starred Debra Winger at the height of her Hollywood stardom as a fed who goes undercover to track a serial killer, the black widow of the title, played by Teresa Russell, who goes around romancing rich men and then murdering them. Okay, doesn't every woman wish they could do that? There was one big problem with the original movie – it just wasn't very good. It was sluggish and lacking in suspense. It was possibly the most unthrilling noir thriller ever made. It had a decent premise and plot, yet failed to make it interesting or pay off in any way. Interesting ideas and directions were completely ignored. There was the slightest hint of an emotional and even sexual connection between Winger and Russell's characters, but that was completely left on the table. One viewer of the movie said, "All I remember is wanting Theresa Russell to kill Debra Winger so I could go home. Then I realized I was home. That was fast!"

In the Hulu series, an FBI agent — the role Rossum is poised to play — uses the secrets from a female serial killer's past to try and find her.  Meriwether will be executive producer with Rossum and Sara Moskowitz via Rossum's Composition 8 banner, as well as Ron Bass, who wrote the 20th Century Fox-distributed 1987 film. 20th Television, where Meriwether has been based for a decade, and Searchlight TV are producing. Hopefully, the series won't be anywhere as boring as the original movie, which wasted a great director and two great lead actresses. The black widow of the title has not been cast yet.

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