Richard Gere to star in US remake of Israeli war veterans drama ‘Nevelot’
Apple ordering American version of HOT series after HBO withdrew
Richard Gere is set to star in a remake of an Israeli series for American audiences by Apple TV.
Keshet Studios said Thursday that Gere is attached to a US adaptation of the HOT series Nevelot, which has been translated as both “Bastards” and “Eagles.”
In 2015, HBO picked up rights to the show, which is based on a novel by Yoram Kaniuk, but eventually dropped it. The original miniseries, which had just five episodes, featured two aging Israeli veterans who went on a violent rampage against spoiled and self-absorbed youth. The show aired in Israel in 2010 and won the prize for best miniseries at the Israeli Television Academy Awards.
According to Keshet – which brokered the deal between HOT and Apple – the show will contain eight episodes and be written by Howard Gordon (24, Tyrant) and Warren Leight Treatment, Law & Order).
The US version of the show will focus on two American Vietnam veterans and best friends, whose monotonous lives get turned upside down when a woman they both once loved is killed in a car accident. The impact of the accident and the men’s regrets and anger snowball into a series of increasingly violent events. (In
“There’s nothing more joyful or more reassuring then to hand off our baby, Nevelot, to producers of this quality, who will undoubtedly bring it to excellent places,” said Dror Sabo, one of the creators of the original HOT show who will serve as a producer on the American remake. “We met Howard Gordon at the Fox Studios in Los Angeles,” Sabo added. “To see the strong effect the Hebrew series had on them, to hear their praise and their astonishment when they understand the conditions and limitations we operate under, warms the heart and spurs us to do more. It’s going to be exciting and interesting.”
All the major players attached to the remake have worked with Israeli creations in the past. Gordon developed Homeland for Showtime, based on the Keshet series Prisoners of War. Leight helped adapt the HOT show In Treatment for HBO and Gere starred in Joseph Cedar’s 2016 film Norman.