Park Chan-Wook Set to Direct A24's Series Adaptation of THE SYMPATHIZER
A24 has acquired the rights to author Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer-winning debut novel The Sympathizer. They are looking to adapt the story into a series, and South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook has officially signed on to direct the project. Nguyen took to Twitter to make the announcement:
The Sympathizer centers around a “half-French, half-Vietnamese man who served as a spy for Communist forces during the Vietnam War. The novel follows the unnamed protagonist as he experiences the final days of the historical war, lives in exile in Los Angeles and continues to move throughout Southeast Asia.”
Here’s the description of the story from the book:
It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be given passage aboard the last flights out of the country. The general and his compatriots start a new life in Los Angeles, unaware that one among their number, the captain, is secretly observing and reporting on the group to a higher-up in the Viet Cong. The Sympathizer is the story of this captain: a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, a man who went to university in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause. A gripping spy novel, an astute exploration of extreme politics, and a moving love story, The Sympathizer explores a life between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today.
Park Chan-wook is best known for his films such as Old Boy, Joint Security Area, Thirst, The Handmaiden, The Vengeance, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance. This will mark Park’s second TV series as the director after over two years since BBC One’s The Little Drummer Girl.