Adrian Tomine’s The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist is getting a television adaptation, Variety reports.
Production companies A24 and Square Peg are developing Tomine’s 2020 graphic memoir as an animated show. The series will be written by Tomine.
Tomine’s book tells the story of his life as a cartoonist, complete with a series of personal and professional ups and downs. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the book “subtle, provocative, and sharply drawn—a portrait of the perpetually dissatisfied artist.”
Ari Aster, Lars Knudsen, and Emily Hildner will serve as executive producers of the series.
“As devoted fans of Adrian’s work, we couldn’t be more thrilled to be helping him to adapt his beautiful book for television,” Aster told Variety. “I can now forgive him all that he did to me. We have begun counseling, which has been a productive and therapeutic process.”
Tomine praised Aster, director of Hereditary and Midsommar, as “one of the great filmmakers of our time.”
“When he told me he thought there was a way to adapt my book—and to create something innovative and unexpected and true to the material—who was I to argue?” Tomine said. “I have immense respect for Ari, as well as Square Peg and A24, and I’m honored and thrilled (and honestly, a little shocked) to be collaborating with them.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
