HBO is developing a limited series adaptation of Gary Shteyngart's novel, Lake Success, per Deadline.
Jake Gyllenhaal is attached to star and executive produce the project. The series hails from Gyllenhaal and Riva Marker's Nine Stories and Endeavor Content.
Stheyngart and Tom Spezialy (Castle Rock, The Leftovers, Ash vs Evil Dead, Watchmen) will co-write the drama as well as co-showrun.
Lake Success centers on narcissistic, self-deluded and hilariously divorced from the real world, hedge fund manager Barry Cohen (Gyllenhaal) who flees his family, his past and the SEC on a cross-country bus ride in search of his college girlfriend and a last chance at romantic redemption. Meanwhile, back in Manhattan, his brilliant wife Seema struggles to raise their autistic son and begins a tragicomic love affair of her own.
"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. 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," said Nine Stories' Gyllenhaal and Marker.
Per Goodreads, this is the synopsis of the novel.
Myopic, 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 3 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, whom he hasn't seen or spoken to in years. Meanwhile, reeling from the fight that caused Barry's departure, his super-smart wife Seema, a driven first-generation American who craved a picture-perfect life with all the accoutrements of a huge bank account, has her own demons to face. How these two imperfect characters navigate the Shteyngartian chaos of their own making is the heart of this biting, brilliant, emotionally resonant novel very much of our times.
