EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Prime Video has ordered a dark comedy workplace thriller series starring Christoph Waltz.
The actor, who won Oscars for his roles in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, is to star in and exec produce The Consultant, which comes from Servant creator Tony Basgallop, WandaVision exec producer Matt Shakman, MGM Television and Amazon Studios.
The Consultant explores the sinister relationship between boss and employee, asking how far we will go to get ahead, and to survive. It is inspired by Bentley Little’s 2015 novel, a satire that is centered around Mr. Patoff, a bow-tie wearing consultant who comes to the rescue of CompWare after a prominent merger falls through and soon seemingly starts running the company.
Basgallop, who created psychological horror Servant for Apple TV+ as well as BBC series Inside Men and Hotel Babylon, created the series and will serve as showrunner. Shakman, who has exec produced and directed series including Disney+’s WandaVision and Hulu’s The Great and is helming the next Star Trek movie for Paramount Pictures, will direct.
Basgallop and Shakman will exec produce alongside Waltz, Steve Stark, and Andrew Mittman. Kai Dolbashian is co-producer.
Waltz is fresh from starring in Wes Anderson’s film The French Dispatch and recently reprised his role as Blofeld in the latest James Bond film No Time to Die. Last year, he won an Emmy for his performance in Quibi drama Most Dangerous Game.
He has also starred in Alita: Battle Angel, Downsizing, The Legend of Tarzan and Water for Elephants.
“It’s a huge honor to be working with the talents of Matt Shakman and Christoph Waltz on this project that I developed with the team at 1.21 and Toluca Pictures,” said Basgallop. “And with MGM and Amazon Studios we’ve found partners who are not afraid to be bold and explosive.”
“With The Consultant, Tony Basgallop has created something fearless with equal parts savage humor and delicious thrills,” said Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon Studios. “We are excited to collaborate with him and the entire creative team in bringing this edge-of-your seat, can’t-miss series to our Prime Video customers across the globe.”
“The Consultant is a biting workplace satire that is as suspenseful as it is darkly funny,” added Michael Wright, president of scripted TV at MGM. “Tony has created something truly unexpected with this series, and we are thrilled to partner with Amazon and this brilliant creative team to bring the story to life for audiences around the world.”
Basgallop is repped by UTA, Grandview and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman.