American Gigolo Teaser: Who Framed Julian Kaye For Murder?

Showtime has released a new teaser trailer for their upcoming series "American Gigolo" starring Jon Bernthal. It's a short teaser, but we do get a sense of this being a continuation of the 1980 movie starring Richard Gere, despite the fact that it's called a "reimagining." In the film, Gere's Julian, a male escort, is accused of murder and sent to prison. In the series, it appears that Julian is out of prison and trying to reenter the sex work business, all the while trying to find out who framed him for the crime. 

This project has been in the works for a long time, with Jerry Bruckheimer on it back in 2014, and Neil Labute set to write the series in 2016. The series in its current form has had issues as well, according to Deadline, with David Hollander ("Ray Donovan"), who served as showrunner, directing the pilot episode. Hollander was announced as no longer being part of the project at the end of April 2022, when the series was seven episodes into its 10-episode run. Showtime and Paramount Television have confirmed that Hollander has left the project, but declined to give a reason. The series has reportedly continued production with David Bar Katz, who is a close colleague of Hollander's, as showrunner. 

Here is the info for "American Gigolo:"

American Gigolo, a present-day reimagining of the iconic 1980 film, follows Julian Kaye (Jon Bernthal) after his wrongful conviction release from 15 years in prison as he navigates his complicated relationships with his former lover Michelle (Gretchen Mol), his troubled mother, and the people who betrayed him. While Julian struggles to reconcile the escort he was in the past and the man he is today, Detective Sunday (Rosie O'Donnell) seeks the truth about the murder that sent Julian to prison all those years ago, unearthing a much larger conspiracy along the way.

The series stars Bernthal, Gretchen Mol, Rosie O'Donnell, Lizzie Brocheré, Gabriel LaBelle, and Leland Orser, with Wayne Brady and Laura Liguori. It's hard to get a sense of more than the feel of the show in only 26 seconds, but I suppose it looks interesting. Honestly, though, this is not a film I felt any need to revisit. With that said, it's Jon Bernthal, who I will watch in anything, and that alone might get me to watch this. It will certainly be interesting to see how the series portrays sex work in our current day, as opposed to what we saw back in 1980. 

Bernthal is also producing. Executive producing are Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, and KristieAnne Reed. There is no release date listed for "American Gigolo" yet, but we'll keep you updated.