Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” is considered by many to be the Master of Suspense’s finest film, and, beyond that, maybe the greatest thriller ever made. It’s been remade once for television and riffed on countless times, so the durability of its premise — bored, wheelchair-using man snoops on his neighbors in the apartment building across the street and believes he’s witnessed a murder — is not in question. It’s just, how do you turn a taut thriller like this into a full-blown series?
Williamson evidently thinks he’s got this figured out, and he’s got his episodic take on Hitch’s film set up at Peacock so we’ll likely get to see for ourselves. Does his version of Jimmy Stewart’s character live next to a building full of psychopaths?
I’m equally puzzled by his decision to develop a series based on David Fincher’s “The Game.” He’s at least got the film’s screenwriters, John Brancato and Michael Ferris, but here again we have a story that derived its power and suspense from being set over a tight time frame. Also, the film is a classic because of its ballsy twist ending.
The other two irons Williamson’s got in the fire are an adaptation of Ruth Ware’s “The It Girl” (about a woman attempting to solve the decades-old murder of a friend), and “The Waterfront,” which sounds like a fishing-industry based “Yellowstone” transplanted to Williamson’s old North Carolina stomping grounds. Williamson has had his share of TV misfires, but I’d be shocked if he doesn’t connect on one of these projects. I just don’t think that winner will be “Rear Window” or “The Game.”
