THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES Adaptation to Be Shopped Again as David E. Kelley and Matt Reeves Version Dead at Apple
The series adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s 1987 novel The Bonfire of the Vanities is looking for a new home. Showrunner David E. Kelley and Batman director Matt Reeves had been attached, with Apple TV set as its streaming home, but the project is no longer moving forward there.
Deadline reports that Warner Bros. Television, along with the team at David E. Kelley Productions, will be shopping the project to other buyers shortly.
After months of development at Apple, the streamer has opted not to proceed with the show. According to sources, the parties were not creatively aligned, and Kelley was not happy about how the project had been handled.
He remains in business with Apple TV on two other series that have been picked up for second seasons: Margo’s Got Money Troubles, which recently received eight Emmy nominations, and Presumed Innocent, a four-time Emmy nominee last year.
Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities explores greed, avarice and racial divisions between the haves and have nots in 1980s New York City. Reeves is set to direct. Kelley is writing in his second turn adapting a Wolfe novel after creating and executive producing the 2024 Netflix limited series A Man in Full, which starred Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane.
Of course, this isn't the first time The Bonfire of the Vanities has been adapted. The novel was famously adapted into a 1990 feature film directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis. Despite the impressive creative team and cast, the production became notorious long before the movie hit theaters.
The film drew criticism for several creative decisions, including major changes to Wolfe's story and characters, with many fans of the novel feeling it missed the sharp satire that made the source material such a success.
Behind the scenes, the production was plagued by reports of creative disagreements and mounting pressure to turn the novel into a more broadly commercial film. Those challenges were later chronicled in Julie Salamon's bestselling behind-the-scenes book The Devil's Candy, which detailed the troubled making of the movie.
When The Bonfire of the Vanities was finally released, it was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews and became one of Hollywood's most infamous box office bombs. It grossed just over $15 million domestically against a reported budget of around $47 million, cementing its reputation as one of the biggest disappointments of the era.
It'll be interesting to see if this new television adaptation can finally do justice to Wolfe's acclaimed novel in a way the previous adaptation never could.