Film alum Greg Mottola ’91 is set to direct and executive produce The Miniature Wife, an adaptation of the short story of the same name by Writing alum Manuel Gonzalez '03. Mottola will direct the first two episodes of the comedy series for Peacock, in a straight to series order.
The adaptation follows a combative married couple played by Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games) and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession), as they vie for control of their relationship in the wake of a technological accident that changes everything.
The series is created by Jennifer Ames and Steve Turner, who will also serve as showrunners. “Jennifer and Steve have hilariously expanded upon Manuel Gonzalez’s fantastical acid tale of marital discord,” Mottola told Deadline.
The short story comes from Gonzalez’s debut anthology, The Miniature Wife and Other Stories, published by Penguin Random House in 2014. Professor of Writing Ben Marcus praised the work as, “weird, funny and unforgettable,” and The New York Times Book Review called the collection “lucid and confident.”
Gonzalez’s 2017 novel The Regional Office Is Under Attack! was also published by Penguin. His work has been featured in The Believer, Esquire, Fence, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, One Story, and Open City.
Mottola is best known for his work directing High School classic Superbad in 2007, but is no stranger to television. He also directed and executive produced the pilots for HBO’s The Newsroom and FX’s Dave, and the new Netflix series Nobody Wants This, starring Kristen Bell.
