HBO has given the greenlight to the limited series The Gorilla and the Bird, based on Zack McDermott’s book Gorilla and the Bird: A Memoir of Madness and a Mother’s Love. Deadline reports that Jean-Marc Vallée (Big Little Lies, Sharp Objects) will direct and executive produce.
The story tells the story of a son, Zack (the gorilla) he fights to regain his sanity after a devastating psychotic breakdown, and he turns to the only person who’s never given up on him – his mother (the bird). McDermott, who is himself bipolar, works as a Brooklyn public defender while struggling with mental illness.
Vallée’s crazyrose, Channing Tatum’s Free Association and Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf and Robin Schwartz’ Big Beach TV have all worked on the project’s development at various stages. Tatum first announced that Big Beach was working on the series since September of 2017.
The script comes from Demolition scribe Bryan Sipe, which was directed by Vallée. Sipe will also serve as an executive producer and showrunner. Vallée and Nathan Ross will executive produce for crazyrose; Tatum, Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan will executive produce for Free Association; while Robin Schwartz, Turtletaub and Saraf will executive produce for Big Beach. McDermott himself will also serve as a co-executive producer.
