Jeremy Allen White is attached to star in and executive produce a
Netflix limited series adaptation of the André Aciman novel “Enigma Variations,”
Variety has learned exclusively from sources.
The project is currently in development at the streamer. Should it move forward, this would be the second onscreen adaptation of one of Aciman’s novels. Previously, his novel “Call Me by Your Name” was turned into a critically-acclaimed film starring Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer with James Ivory writing and Luca Guadagnino directing. The film received four Oscar nominations upon its release, with Ivory winning for best adapted screenplay.
Amanda Kate Shuman is attached to serve as writer, executive producer, and showrunner on “Enigma Variations,” with Oliver Hermanus set to direct and executive produce. Aciman will executive produce along with White, with Media Res producing. Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer will executive produce on behalf of Media Res.
White will star as the main character, Paul. The official description of the novel states:
“‘Enigma Variations’ charts the life of a man named Paul, whose loves remain as consuming and as covetous throughout his adulthood as they were in his adolescence. Whether the setting is southern Italy, where as a boy he has a crush on his parents’ cabinetmaker, or a snowbound campus in New England, where his enduring passion for a girl he’ll meet again and again over the years is punctuated by anonymous encounters with men—whether he’s on a tennis court in Central Park or on a New York sidewalk in early spring. Paul’s attachments are ungraspable, transient, and forever underwritten by raw desire. Ahead of every step Paul takes, his hopes, denials, fears, and regrets are always ready to lay their traps. Yet the dream of love lingers. We may not always know what we want. We may remain enigmas to ourselves and to others. But sooner or later, we discover who we’ve always known we were.”
variety.com
