"Thrilled to finally announce that A24 has optioned ‘The Sympathizer’ for TV, with director Park Chan-wook, whose films include ‘The Handmaiden’," the Vietnamese-American novelist wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
"His ‘Oldboy’ was a big influence on ‘The Sympathizer,’ and I can’t imagine a better person to direct this TV adaptation."
The indie studio and distributor retweeted his posts on its social media pages.
 Viet Thanh Nguyen and his debut novel, "The Sympathizer." ( Photo courtesy of Viet Thanh Nguyen) |
Nguyen, 50, a professor of English and American studies and ethnicity at the University of California, the US, made his writing debut with ‘The Sympathizer’ in 2015 and promptly won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature among a handful of other honors.
It became the first book to win the Edgar Award and Pulitzer Prize in the same year. It depicts the story of a Vietnamese man coming to the U.S. and later returning to his home country after years.
A24 is an independent film distributor that has made its name betting on quirky, artisanal movies like ‘Moonlight,’ ‘Lady Bird,’ ‘The Farewell,’ and ‘Minari.’