Amazon has given a full series order for Bryan Cranston’s TV adaptation of non-fiction guidebook The Dangerous Book for Boys.
While the aura of a legendary television starring role on AMC’s Breaking Bad still emanates strong from Bryan Cranston, he’s also become quite industrious with the behind-the-scenes chemistry of the industry as a producer on Amazon projects like the upcoming anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams and drama Sneaky Pete. Now, it seems that his working relationship with the retail monolith/streaming platform will continue with the comedy series The Dangerous Book for Boys.
According to trades such as Deadline, Amazon has given a full series order for single-camera television comedy The Dangerous Book for Boys, which Cranston originally co-created with Superbad director Greg Mottola during the 2014/2015 season. The project is an adaptation of the 2007 British non-fiction guidebook of the same name written by brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden. Under the production banners of Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television, Dangerous Book arrives as six half-hour episodes.
Interestingly, its classification as an “adaptation” pushes limits, since Dangerous Book has no real plot to adapt, existing simply as a cheeky guidebook that teaches young men real-life skills during a modern age when computers, video games, television and movies have facilitated a more sedentary, detached generation who lack the kind of practical skills that older generations were raised to possess.
Consequently, the TV comedy will channel an original story through the lens of the book’s themes, centering on a young man named Wyatt and his brothers, who, in the aftermath of their father’s death, are left with a copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys. The inherited how-to book inspires Wyatt to concoct a fantasy world in which he is reunited with his father, learning the practical life skills that the book endows and, presumably becoming a more whole person in the real world as a result.
In a tidbit that Breaking Bad fans might find interesting, Dangerous Book first blipped Cranston’s radar during the time of the show when his co-star and onscreen wife Anna Gunn gave him a copy, telling him, “this reminds me of you!” While Cranston’s only child is a daughter (Sweet/Vicious actress Taylor Dearden), the boy-book resonated with him and, in a recent interview with IndieWire, he described his epiphany for the TV concept:
“There is no plot and there are no characters in the book. It’s a guide to how to embrace boyhood: How to build a fort, how to talk to a girl, what are the rules in baseball, what are the great battles in history. But there is no show. I was in Boston [performing ‘All the Way’] and running along the Charles River when all of a sudden it popped into my head how to crack this story!”
Indeed, The Dangerous Book for Boys has become quite the passion project for Cranston, who came close to a TV deal with NBC back in September before the Peacock Network ultimately passed. With the book by the Iggulden siblings already an Amazon bestselling hit that was only contemporaneously outsold by mega-fiction-franchise closer Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it will certainly be interesting to see how the tongue-in-cheek, yet educational approach of Dangerous Book will translate to a television comedy.