Filthy Rich Scores American Remake

Filthy Rich Scores American Remake

New Zealand drama Filthy Rich has been green-lit for a US remake by Fox network starring Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall.

The show, which ran for two seasons in New Zealand, was optioned by Imagine Entertainment, a company owned by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer for re-versioning by Tate Taylor, acclaimed director of Girl on the Train and The Help.

Created by Rachel Lang and Gavin Strawhan (Nothing Trivial, Bad Mothers), Filthy Richfollows rich-listers the Truebridges who find three illegitimate heirs with a claim to the family fortune. The ensuing drama highlights the widening gap between rich and poor in New Zealand.

US industry bible Variety calls the American take a “southern Gothic family drama”, set amid a “mega-rich Southern family, famed for creating a wildly successful Christian television network”.

A pilot episode shot in New Orleans earlier this year also saw Kim Cattrall in the starring role, based on the character played by Miriama Smith in NZ. Starring alongside Cattrall will be Gerald McRaney, Aubrey Dollar, Corey Cott, Benjamin Aguilar, Mark L. Young, Melia Kreiling, Steve Harris, David Denman and Olivia Macklin.

NZ On Air’s Chief Executive Jane Wrighton is delighted by the Filthy Rich’s success in the US, commenting: “Filthy Productions have achieved something no other NZ producers have to date – selling a NZ drama format into the highly competitive US market. This demonstrates that NZ drama can compete on the international stage.”

Filthy Rich was first produced by Filthy Productions, a company established by Lang, Strawhan and Steven Zanoski specifically to make the show. The company has had recent success with Bad Mothers, made for Australia’s Channel 9 and screening on TVNZ.

Filthy Rich screened between 2016 and 2017 on TVNZ2. It was the highest rated local drama in its target audience and second most watched drama series in New Zealand at the time after X Files.

The American series, screening later this year, is seen as a companion piece to the Fox hit Empire which is entering its sixth season.

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