Ben Stiller joins Gary Shteyngart TV project

Ben Stiller has signed on to executive produce and direct a television adaptation of “Super Sad True Love Story” by Gary Shteyngart, according to Deadline. The 2010 novel was a bestseller the Los Angeles Times found to be “hilarious and sad.”

Set in a the near future, “Super Sad True Love Story” follows Lenny Abramov, a balding, outmoded 39-year-old and the object of his affection, Eunice Park, a young and hip Korean American.

Abramov, who works for an eternally youthful boss, is ill-suited for their tech-obsessed, fast-moving world. When Park sees him reading, it’s as disturbing as if she’d caught him watching porn. “I was so embarrassed,” she writes. “I just stood there and watched him read which lasted for like HALF AN HOUR, and finally he put the book down and I pretended like nothing happened.”

The Hollywood Reporter said the series will be a one-hour dramedy. It is being produced by Media Rights Capital, which created “House of Cards” for Netflix. Shteyngart co-created the adaptation with Karl Gajdusek; the two will co-write the script and be executive producers.

Shteyngart posted the news on Facebook, writing, “Super excited to have the awesome Ben Stiller on board for Super Sad True Love Story: The Series! Wooooohooooooo!”

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