Adaptation of Pulitzer-Prize Winning Novel Finds Home on HBO

Three years after The Little Drummer Girl, director Park Chanwook is returning to the small screen with an English-language adaption of an acclaimed novel. As previously announced, Director Park has teamed up with A24 to develop a series based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. 

Now it has been revealed that Robert Downey Jr., the famed actor who the world-over for portraying Iron Man in the Marvel films, has boarded the project, in which he will play multiple roles, such as a film director, a congressman and a CIA agent. The series has been ordered by HBO.

The novel, published in 2015, follows a half-French, half-Vietnamese man who escapes the Vietnam War and begins living in exile in California with the disgraced general he works for. Little does the general know that his loyal aide is in fact a communist spy. A worldwide search is currently underway to find someone to fill the main role. 

Director Park, known for Old Boy (2003) and The Handmaiden (2016), is currently working on post-production for his next film Decision to Leave, which wrapped filming earlier this year and stars Tang Wei and Park Haeil.

Downey Jr. was last seen when he played Iron Man for the last time in Avengers: Endgame, the global smash which became the highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release, a crown that has since been reclaimed by Avatar. The Sympathizer will mark Downey Jr.’s first leading role in a TV series.