Finally, Jake Gyllenhaal has made the leap to television.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the A-lister has signed on to executive produce and star in HBO’s limited series adaptation of Gary Shteyngart’s 2018 novel, Lake Success.
Here’s the novel’s official synopsis:
Narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema—a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth—has her own demons to face. How these two flawed characters navigate the Shteyngartian chaos of their own making is at the heart of this piercing exploration of the 0.1 Percent, a poignant tale of familial longing and an unsentimental ode to what really makes America great.
That brand of chaos should remain intact as Shteyngart adapted the novel himself, working alongside co-writer Tom Spezialy (The Leftovers, Watchmen). The two will serve as showrunners.
(Read: Jake Gyllenhaal’s Top 10 Performances)
“Gary’s novel is a beautifully executed character study highlighting the depth of human contradiction and complication, set against the timely backdrop of America today,” Gyllenhaal and fellow Nine Stories partner Riva Marker expressed in a joint statement. “We are thrilled to partner with HBO, who has consistently been home to some of the most exciting and acclaimed premium content over the past two decades.”
With Lake Success, Gyllenhaal joins his sister Maggie on the network, who returns for the third and final season of The Deuce later this year. However, he also brings his own Nine Stories banner to the fold, which should bode well for HBO, whose competition continues to increase with the likes of Apple TV+ and Disney+ arriving soon.