Tomas Alfredson (Let The Right One In, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) is set to direct a new TV series adaptation of Faithless, the 2000 film penned by Ingmar Bergman and directed by Liv Ullmann.
The movie follows the consequences of the erotic love affair between notorious film director David and actress Marianne, wife of his friend Mark, an orchestra conductor, and how it affects their families. It’s loosely based on experiences of Bergman’s own life.
Alredson said of the project: “Sometime during the winter of 2001, I contacted Ingmar Bergman and asked if I could reinterpret his story. Initially he said it sounded like ‘a drunken idea.’ But the longer we talked about it, he thought it sounded both ‘terribly exciting’ and ‘really shitty.'”
Sara Johnsen (July 22) has written the script and said that by collaborating with Bergman they are “making the most character-driven TV drama of all time.” Alredson added that “I have a hard time seeing that I have ever faced a bigger task and promise that I will lift my hat for what has been and roll up my sleeves for what will be.”
Because he didn’t direct it, and because Ullmann didn’t actually act in it, Faithless remains one of Bergman’s lesser known works, so Alfredson can take some comfort in the fact that he’s not helming a new adaptation of The Seventh Seal or Persona. Although Hagai Levi didn’t have much trouble adapting Scenes From A Marriage into the HBO miniseries last year.
This will mark Alfredson’s return to prestige projects, as his last two movies haven’t worked out too well.
In 2017 he directed infamously terrible Michael Fassbender thriller The Snowman, of which 15% of the script wasn’t shot and included such production problems as Val Kilmer having an enlarged tongue due to recent throat cancer treatment and not being able to audibly speak his lines. His dialogue was later dubbed in.
Despite very little of The Snowman‘s issues being his fault, Alfredson wasn’t given another opportunity to direct an American film, so he returned to his native Sweden to direct Se upp för Jönssonligan, the fifteenth installment of the Jönssonligan comedy franchise. For such a talented director, it feels like a major step down.
It was reported in October of last year that Rachel Weisz had signed on to star in a new adaptation of Seance On A Wet Afternoon with Alfredson directing, but there hasn’t been any word on that since, so perhaps it has fallen through and Faithless has taken its place in Alfredson’s schedule.
There aren’t any other details on Faithless right now, but hopefully it can be a success in its own right, while also allowing Alredson to once again prove his talent to producers around the world.
#Peace.Love.Faithless
