EXCLUSIVE: Showtime and Paramount Television Studios are parting ways with one of the channel’s most successful showrunners. Ray Donovan’s David Hollander, developer, director, executive producer and showrunner of the upcoming Showtime series American Gigolo, produced by siblings Paramount Television Studios, has been fired from the reboot of the popular 1980 film.
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“David Hollander is no longer on the drama series American Gigolo and Paramount Television Studios no longer has a producing relationship with him,” a spokesperson told Deadline in a statement, declining to comment further.
According to sources close to the production, the film was made following an investigation into allegations of misconduct.
I understand production on the series, which will be helmed by Jon Bernthal, is expected to continue, with one of Hollander’s top lieutenants, believed to be co-executive producer David Bar Katz, stepping in as showrunner. (He had also worked with Hollander on Showrimes Ray Donovan.) The series, which was produced by Paramount TV Studios with Jerry Bruckheimer Television, has about seven episodes in its 10-episode sequence from what I hear. There’s been talk of American Gigolo being behind in production and with the scripts arriving late, although that’s not very unusual for a series of this caliber.
Hollander wrote and directed the pilot for The New American Gigolo, a modern reimagining of the iconic 1980 film. Bernthal plays Julian Kaye, who is introduced 15 years after his arrest for murder and struggles to break into modern Los Angeles’ sex industry , while searching for the truth about the machinations that landed him in prison all those years ago and also hoping to reconnect with Michelle, his one true love, played by Gretchen Mol.
The cast also includes Rosie O’Donnell, Lizzie Brocheré, Gabriel LaBelle and Leland Orser. Bruckheimer is producing with Jonathan Littman and KristieAnne Reed. Bernthal also serves as producer.
At Showtime, Hollander served as executive producer and showrunner on the drama Ray Donovan, received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing, and received a WGA Award for Best New Series. He also co-wrote and directed the Ray Donovan feature film, which picks up where the seventh season left off after its surprise cancellation last year. Hollander previously created the television series Heartland and The Guardian, of which he executive produced and directed several episodes.