Following the critically-acclaimed return of The Bear, which has been bringing in record ratings for its second season, series creator Christopher Storer has landed his next big project. The writer/director is set to helm an adaptation of Don Winslow‘s crime thriller The Winter of Frankie Machine at Paramount.
According to Deadline, Winslow and producer Shane Salerno have struggled to find the right filmmaker to tackle the film for over a decade. After digging the first season of The Bear, they took to Storer’s take on the Chicago restaurant scene and his passion for Winslow’s novel:
Winslow’s 2006 novel is about Frankie Machiani, a hitman for a San Diego mob family who’s dragged out of retirement when asked by an LA crime family boss to oversee a meeting between Detroit and LA crime families. He realizes quickly it’s all a set up to kill him. He needs to shake off the rust and dodge those killers until he figures out who is trying to kill him.
Just to emphasize how hot a commodity The Winter of Frankie Machine has been, the film was almost tackled by Michael Mann, William Friedkin, and even Martin Scorsese. Now, it falls to Storer, who’s white-hot right now thanks to Carmy and the gang on The Bear.
The Bear Season 2 is now streaming on Hulu.