Janicza Bravo is taking on another story about an unreliable narrator. The “Zola” filmmaker has been tapped to write and direct “A Suspense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptions,” Annapurna’s series adaptation of Ian Parker’s 2019 New Yorker article about Dan Mallory. Deadline broke the news.
Parker’s article details the stranger than fiction story of Dan Mallory, a former book editor whose debut novel, “The Woman in the Window,” published under the pseudonym A.J. Finn, topped the New York Times Bestseller list. The literary celebrity made headlines for being caught in a series of jaw-dropping lies.
“The series will follow an unreliable narrator who nurses brain tumors he does not have and mourns family members who are not dead while preying on people’s sympathy to get away with almost anything,” the source details.
Bravo is co-writing the pilot with Brian Savelson (“Little America”) and is among the project’s exec producers. Jake Gyllenhaal will star in the series.
“What may have started out as my dog ate homework turns into my mother died of cancers, my brother took his life, and I have a double doctorate,” said Bravo. “Our protagonist is white, male, and pathological. There is a void in him and he fills it by duping people. He’s a scammer. The series examines white identity and how we as an audience participate in making room for this behavior.”
“Zola,” Bravo’s second feature, made its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year. Based on A’ziah King’s viral Twitter sensation, the comedy tells the story of Zola (Taylour Paige) and Stefani (Riley Keough), who meet at a restaurant and bond over pole-dancing. The pair embark on a cross-country road trip to Florida the very next day.
Bravo made her feature debut with 2017’s “Lemon.” When we asked what advice she’d give other women filmmakers, she said, “Being likable and/or being liked shouldn’t factor into how you get your work done. I’m not saying to be a tyrant, but the work is first,” she emphasized. “Your vision and your voice. If it fails, it’s on you. If it does well, then everybody is gonna take some of your shine. People are going to say and think whatever they want no matter how well you behave.”
“Mrs. America,” “Divorce,” and “Atlanta” are among Bravo’s TV directing credits. Also an actress, she’s appeared on-screen in “Camping” and “Greener Grass.”
