Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is reportedly getting a Netflix TV adaptation
Netflix is set to produce a television adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray titled The Grays (Penguin Classics)
Netflix is reportedly set to air a series based on Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Among the names behind the show, to be called The Grays, is gay producer Greg Berlanti’s company. He has been responsible for TV hits such as The Flash, Riverdale, Everwood and Red, White & Royal Blue, as well as big-screen successes My Policeman and Love, Simon.
The series will be a modern take on gay playwright Wilde’s tale about “our fascination with eternal youth, set against the backdrop of the modern beauty industry, Deadline reported. But in a twist to the classic plot, the central characters Basil and Doran (no “i”, so possibly female), will be siblings.
A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment on the report.
In the original tale, Basil obsessively paints a portrait of Dorian. After Dorian sells his soul, the painting becomes distorted while the real man stays young and beautiful, although he does descend into madness and hedonism.
Executive producers include Katie Rose Rogers, who also wrote the series, and Berlanti’s husband and former Leeds United and LA Galaxy footballer Robbie Rogers, both of whom worked on Emmy-nominated Fellow Travelers, which starred Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey.
While The Picture of Dorian Gray isn’t explicitly queer, given that it was first published in 1890, there are several moments that imply homoerotic subtext. For example, Basil tells Dorian: “It is quite true that I have worshipped you with far more romance than a man should ever give to a friend.”
Sounds pretty gay to us, but given the changes made for the new series, we don’t imagine they’ll be following through on that subtext. That said, stranger things have happened. Just check out Game of Thrones.
The Picture of Dorian Gray has been adapted a number of times before, most notably for the stage in 1913, just 13 years after the author’s death, and in an Oscar-winning film in 1945, starring president John F Kennedy’s brother-in-law Peter Lawford, Angela Lansbury and George Sanders.
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