Was there something in the water this year? It seems like everyone got the same erotic thriller memo because a slew of high-profile projects in the genre — both TV and film — have been set up over the past couple of months, some with big-name talent attached. The trend has been accelerating, with about half of these projects announced in the last few weeks.
It marks a remarkable comeback for the genre that had been largely dormant since its 1980s heyday punctuated by a string of hit movies, including Dressed To Kill, Body Heat, 91/2 Weeks and the Oscar-nominated Fatal Attraction.
With streamers pushing the content envelope, erotic thrillers have been on their wish lists. But, two years after Paramount+ tested the waters with the Fatal Attraction series reboot starring Joshua Jackson and and Lizzy Caplan, the floodgates have opened.
The latest series project is Teach Me, an erotic thriller drama in development at Peacock from writer/EP Lisa Rubin, EP Jessica Rhoades, A24 and Universal Television. It stars Mandy Moore as a teacher wielding power over an impressionable but unreliable student, chronicling what happens when that student becomes the teacher as an exploration of the blurred lines between sex, power and addiction.
Teach Me joins erotic thriller drama Hancock Park, which was recently set up at Netflix with a script-to-series commitment. From writer/EP Matthew Barry, EP Drew Comins and Fifth Season, it stars Regé-Jean Page as a dangerously charismatic outsider who invades the lives of a seemingly picture-perfect Los Angeles family when he rents their backyard guest house and goes on to expose the desire, deceit, and obsession that lurks around every corner of one of L.A.’s most-coveted neighborhoods.
Comins and Fifth Season are also behind Dangerous Liaisons. Netflix recently opened a writers room for the drama project from writer/ep Nicôle Lecky, a modern-day reimagining of the 18th century French novel as a globe-trotting, heart-wrenching and scintillating erotic thriller and an unflinching exploration of power, wealth, race and romance amidst the unapologetic sexual appetites of the British ruling class and the new-money elites.
Additionally, Fifth Season is developing Night Float, an erotic thriller drama from writer/EP Lila Raicek and Bruna Papandrea. Adapted by Raicek from her play Vertebrae, Night Float, a propulsive exploration of desire and power, obsession and betrayal set against the dark underworld of New York City, stars Nina Dobrev as an alluring young woman who moves into hospital housing to live with her resident boyfriend. She becomes entangled with an older doctor who entices her to act as a runner in an illicit insider-trading ring.
Meanwhile, Counterpart Studios, the new company of Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns and Elise Henderson, has an erotic thriller set up for development at a streamer, the trio said without revealing further details.
On the film side, Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn and Requiem For A Dream director Darren Aronofsky just teamed up for an original erotic thriller movie set up at Sony Pictures.
In a competitive situation, New Regency landed Fixation, an erotic thriller spec from writers Erika Vazquez and Siena Butterfield, with Papandrea producing. It centers on a couple’s therapist who is drawn into a dangerous triangle of lust, lies, and manipulation.
Further along is the untitled Eternity project, which started production in Italy this fall with Jamie Marshall directing. Meadow Williams, William H. Macy and Nolan Gerard Funk star in the erotic thriller which follows Calvin Wells (Funk), a charismatic conman who sets his sights on Katrine Winters (Williams), a mysterious billionaire widow. Drawn in by her fortune and allure, Calvin accepts an invitation aboard her superyacht Eternity, only to realize her glamorous world hides sinister secrets.