Seeing Jon Bernthal as anything but the tough guy is going to be a switch since as Jeremy Dick of TVWeb has reported, Bernthal will be taking on the role of Julian Kaye in a Showtime version of American Gigolo and will be starring in a series that is based off of the idea of the popular Richard Gere movie from 1980. The only difference will be that the story line will be taking place in 2020, which means a lot of changes and updates will be taking place since the technological updates alone will be easy to notice. It will definitely be a shift in Bernthal’s normal routine of being the rough and tough individual that has been seen in movies such as The Wolf of Wall Street and Baby Driver and on shows such as The Walking Dead and The Punisher. One can only imagine what it’s going to be like since having seen him act tough for so long it’s entirely possible to see him in a different light, but given how convincing his tough guy act has been it’s probably going to be interesting to see him pull off a more dramatic role this time around. Granted, he has done drama in the past and he has taken on roles that didn’t always paint him as the tough individual, but in recent years that’s really been what people have recognized him for.
It might not please everyone but perhaps one update to include would be the arrival of COVID-19 given that it’s become a serious problem to so many people recently. Imagine a person working in the sex industry attempting to make a living in Los Angeles of all places in a profession where distance is not the key to a great working relationship. When a person really thinks about it that’s pretty much the case and it’s kind of saddening to think that no matter a person’s take on it, the adult entertainment industry is likely to take a pretty big hit off of this matter if it hasn’t already. Placing this in an upcoming show might not make everyone happy but it could bring a level of realism that might be appreciated by some as it would show the unfortunate struggle of those that don’t work from home and aren’t known to stay away from people all that often. Making a living as a modern-day sex worker wouldn’t be all that easy in such a situation, and it likely isn’t in the real world given any preventative measures wouldn’t mean much in this type of business. Anna Iovine of Mashable has more to say on this.
That being said though it’s bound to be a wonder if the show takes off at all at this point since with so many studios going on hiatus for now it’s easy to think that American Gigolo could be just as stuck as anything since the threat of becoming infected is keeping everyone at a distance, which is generally not good for a business where people need to come together to create something. One has to wonder how hard the entertainment industry overall is going to be hit by staying away from their bread and butter for as long as it’s already being mandated, since even a day away from production is costing money. Show business usually moves too fast to really track accurately and without missing a beat here and there, but as of now it’s just about at a standstill, and a lot of people are waiting and hoping that things will go back to normal eventually, or as close to it as is humanly possible. This is unfortunately part of what happens when the public is given a reason to be afraid and is then pushed into hysterics. The only part that’s more unfortunate than this is the fact that the US was somehow woefully unprepared for such an outbreak, despite hearing of it from China and Italy. At this time the US is feeling the pinch in a big way since the economy is currently not in a good position and the entertainment industry is waiting with baited breath to see just what’s going to happen each coming day. It sounds pretty depressing, doesn’t it? That’s largely because our response to it has been anything but positive, even when people begin to recover.
If American Gigolo gets off the ground any time this year and decides to feature the coronavirus, or something similar, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise since the response to this virus is bound to be remembered for some time. Watching Bernthal play a sex worker that’s down on his luck will be different to be certain, but there’s no doubt that he can accomplish this, if only because he’s been wowing us all for years now with his different characters.
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