GET SHORTY Will Also Become A Television Series

Here's some news I don't feel one way or another about:

EPIX has set its third original scripted series, handing out a 10-episode order to Get Shorty, a reimagening of Elmore Leonard’s 1990 bestselling thriller comedy novel previously adapted by MGM with Barry Sonnefeld’s 1995 feature starring John Travolta, Danny DeVito, Gene Hackman and Rene Russo.

Yes, the EPIX network is turning Get Shorty into an hour-long dark comedy series. The details aren't quite the same (Deadline's report also mentions that the plot revolves around "Miles Daly, who works as muscle for a murderous crime ring in Nevada. For the sake of his daughter, he attempts to change professions and become a movie producer, laundering money through a Hollywood film"), but the broad strokes are. 

News of this reboot - which comes to us from Shameless executive producer Davey Holmes - fills me with a profound sense of indifference. If you want to reboot Get Shorty as a TV series on EPIX, I'm not going to stand in the way of you and your dreams. That's not an insane thing to do. Hell, attach a strong cast to it and I might even give the show a peek. 

Mostly I'm bringing you this news as an excuse to say the following: Get Shorty's a better movie than you might remember it being, and you should give it a rewatch if it's been a while. Travolta was fresh off Pulp Fiction and still radiating with the associated coolness of that comeback, Rene Russo kills it as a faux scream queen-type, Danny DeVito steals every scene he's in with a very knowing take on gigantic Hollywood douchebags, Gene Hackman plays a hilariously dimwitted producer of sleazy D-movies, and - last but not least - the late, great Dennis Farina walks away with the entire goddamn movie as Ray "Bones" Barboni. 

Here. I demand that you watch this scene.

Get Shorty is quick and funny and, in typical Leonard fashion, involves a whole bunch of shady characters bouncing off one another in funny, violent, and often unexpected ways. It also has David Paymer, Delroy Lindo, and James Gandolfini turning in awesome character work.

Anyway, definitely revisit the movie, and join me in saying "Eh, alright" to the news of the TV reboot.