The Bonfire of the Vanities: Apple TV Series Adaptation in Development with David E. Kelley, Matt Reeves

Producer David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies) and director Matt Reeves (The Batman) are teaming up for a streaming series adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities for Apple TV.

Kelley will script the adaptation of the bestselling Tom Wolfe novel The Bonfire of the Vanities (which has nothing to do with Assassin’s Creed II, mind you). Published in 1987, the book captured the essence of the greedy ‘80s when self-proclaimed “masters of the universe” dominated Wall Street.

Wolfe’s novel follows hugely successful bond trader Sherman McCoy, who accidentally runs over a young black man with his car when he and his mistress Maria get off the highway. They flee the scene, which unleashes a racial and political firestorm upon Manhattan. An ambitious, alcoholic reporter named Peter Fallow turns Sherman’s woes into a vehicle for his own success.

The Bonfire of the Vanities was previously adapted for the big screen as a notorious 1990 box office flop directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, F. Murray Abraham, Kim Cattrall, and a very young Kirsten Dunst as Hanks’ daughter. (The Devil’s Candy is a great book that examines how this project went horribly awry.)

Variety reports that “Kelley will also executive produce under his David E. Kelley Productions banner. Matt Reeves is attached to direct and executive produce via 6th and Idaho Productions.”

Reeves’ next project is, of course, The Batman: Part II, which films this summer.

Kelley’s other Apple TV projects include Presumed Innocent and Margo’s Got Money Troubles.

A television mainstay of over three decades, Kelley’s credits include Ally McBeal, Nine Perfect Strangers, The Lincoln Lawyer, Mr. Mercedes, Boston Public, Boston Legal, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, and Doogie Howser, M.D.