It may have take
n four months longer, but Bryan Cranston and David Shore’s hourlong pilot Sneaky Pete got where it was looking to get last spring — with a series order. I hear Amazon has picked up to series the Giovanni Ribisi-starring pilot, from Sony Pictures TV. It was one of two pilots Amazon put on its Instant Video platform for viewing on August 7, along with Casanova, starring Diego Luna as the famous playboy. I hear Casanova remains in contention with an order for additional scripts.
Sneaky Pete revolves around a con man (Ribisi) who, after leaving prison, takes cover from his past by assuming the identity of his cellmate, Pete. He moves in with Pete’s unsuspecting family and is roped into the family’s bail bond business. In order to keep the charade up, he plays the part of a skip tracer, taking down criminals worse than himself — and discovering a family life he’s never had.
Sneaky Pete, a co-production between Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures TV, originally was developed and piloted by Sony for CBS last season. The pilot became a hot commodity after CBS ended up passing on it in May, with a number of cable networks and streaming services interested. Amazon ultimately landed the project, funding some reshoots before putting the pilot up online to largely positive response. Ribisi, Marin Ireland, Margo Martindale, Peter Gerety, Libe Barer and Shane McRae star in the project, written by Shore from a story by him and Cranston. It is executive produced by Shore, Cranston, James Degus, Erin Gunn and Seth Gordon, who also directed the pilot, which featured Cranston as a guest star.
Casanova, shot on location in three European countries, was directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet (Amelie), written by Stuart Zicherman and executive produced by Jeunet, Zicherman and Electus’ Ben Silverman. It stars Luna, Bojana Novakovic, Miranda Richardson and Ben Daniels.
Casanova and Sneaky Pete are the first of a slew of pilots Amazon has in the pipeline, including The Good Girls Revolt — also from Sony — Edge, The Patriot and Zelda. The service also has straight-to-series legal drama Trial starring Billy Bob Thornton.
