Channing Tatum is developing the bipolar disorder memoir Gorilla and the Bird as a series
Channing Tatum and Big Beach have teamed up to develop a TV series based on the memoir about bipolar disorder, Gorilla and the Bird: A Memoir of Madness and a Mother’s Love, according to Deadline. The book, which was published today, was written by Zach McDermott, a Brooklyn public defender who has struggled with bipolar disorder.
According to the Amazon description, McDermott chronicles his experience with bipolar disorder that manifested at the age of 26, leading him to think that he was being filmed. He was admitted to Bellevue Hospital. “So begins the story of Zack’s freefall into psychosis and his desperate, poignant, often darkly funny struggle to claw his way back to sanity, regain his identity, and rebuild some semblance of a stable life. It’s a journey that will take him from New York City back to his Kansas roots and to the one person who might be able to save him, his tough, big-hearted Midwestern mother, nicknamed the Bird, whose fierce and steadfast love is the light in Zack’s dark world.
“Before his odyssey is over, Zack will be tackled by guards in mental wards, run naked through cornfields, receive secret messages from the TV, befriend a former Navy Seal and his talking stuffed monkey, and see the Virgin Mary in the whorls of his own back hair. But with the Bird’s help, he just might have a shot at pulling through, starting over, and maybe even meeting a woman who can love him back, bipolar and all.”
Tatum, Reid Carolin, Peter Kiernan and Andrew Schneider will executive produce for Free Association, with Marc Turgletaub, Peter Saraf and Robin Schwartz executive producing for Big Beach. McDermott will co-executive produce. Schneider will oversee the project for Free Association.
Bipolar disorder affects affects nearly 6 million Americans. What do you guys think of the idea of the show? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
