Exclusive: Italian Job Series In The Works For Paramount+
In another Giant Freakin Robot exclusive, we have it that a The Italian Job series is currently in development over at Paramount+
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With the streaming wars ramped up to heightened levels and a veritable content arms race happening within different studios, it makes sense that we would continue seeing older stories reworked for a modern time. Another one of those looks like it is going to get a series treatment. Giant Freakin Robot has an exclusive from our trusted and proven source that Paramount+ is now developing a new series based on The Italian Job. Though we have only seen this in movie form before, the story definitely lends itself to a much longer arc as a full series.
Details on this new Italian Job series are limited right now, but it doesn’t take much to figure out a few key elements of how a story could take shape. Based on the original 1969 British film of the same name, with a rebooted story in the 2003 film, the general ideas revolve around a gang of sympathetic criminals stealing a huge cache of gold. There were definitive differences between the two films allowing for quite a bit of leeway for how this series could play out. But both had overlaps, stylistically and in how the heists go down, that we could see put into play here.
The Italian Job series would almost definitely reestablish the character of Charlie Croker, played by Michael Caine in the original, and Mark Wahlberg in the reboot. He is a master thief who, in both stories, is seeking to avenge the death of his mentor. There are differences in how this plays out with the original catching up after Croker’s mentor has been murdered. In the reboot, Donald Sutherland plays John Bridger who is offed during a double-cross at the beginning of the movie, when the team completes the first Italian Job heist.
But in terms of a series, The Italian Job is likely to see some of the major themes throughout. There will almost certainly be work around a major heist, likely involving the aforementioned gold, with capers leading up to the actual payoff. It is likely to establish a crew or team of these folks with computer hacking and mechanics at the core of their competency. In both films, we saw computer-savvy as a part of the story, specifically around traffic grids, and the cars were BMW MINIs in both. The latter have become somewhat synonymous with both films.
The 2003 Italian Job, directed by F. Gary Gray, with Mark Wahlberg in the lead had a stacked cast that included Charlize Theron, Seth Green, Jason Statham, Mos Def, plus Sunderland as the original crew. They end up facing off against Edward Norton playing the heel who double-crossed the group at the beginning. Where the original The Italian Job left folks literally teetering on the edge of an Alps cliff with the gold in the balance, the reboot has Norton as Steve taking the loot and moving to Los Angeles. A series would likely take that route, with a more stateside approach.
With Paramount now working to fill out its catalog of streaming offerings, The Italian Job really does make a logical direction to go for a story. The name has some staying power and there are enough ways to make it different from the two previous iterations. More to come on what is in store for this The Italian Job series.
