Robert Zemeckis hasn’t been directly involved in TV projects since the late 1990s. But it would appear he’s yet another big film talent drawn by the gravitational pull of good telly to try his hand at small screen entertainment once more. He’s just locked in a deal with Paramount.
The studio is not exactly a surprise. Zemeckis has made some of his biggest hits for it, including Forest Gump, and worked on his last release, Flight, there. He has a company called Compari Entertainment and will give Paramount’s expanding TV department first crack at anything it develops.
First to roll off the production line is The Fermata, which David Hollander is adapting from Nicholson Baker’s book. The 2011 tome follows Arno Strine, who has the power to stop time and, instead of using it to help society, busies himself with his own sexual fantasies, interacting with women as they’re frozen. It’ll be an *extremely *challenging story to make work on screen without making the protagonist a twisted sex criminal, but Zemeckis and co seem to think they have something.
“Not only is Bob one of the all-time greatest filmmakers but he has been an important member of the Paramount family for more than 20 years,” says Paramount CEO Brad Grey. “His ability to tell and capture a story so brilliantly on any screen is second to none and we look forward to partnering creatively with him, Jack and their team on the television side of our business.”
Next up cinematically for Zemeckis is his film about Man On Wire subject Philippe Petit,** To Reach The Clouds**, which he’s shooting now.