Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance has revealed that the HBO series he hinted at last month will not be, as some may have speculated, another bleak portrait of human relationships that die from a thousand pinpricks, but rather a single-camera comedy set in the world of professional bodybuilding, where a thousand pinpricks only means you’re really serious about getting pumped. In December, Cianfrance said the series would “give new meaning to the word ‘character development,’” which, har har.
The show, Muscle, is based on Sam Fussell’s memoir Muscle: Confessions Of An Unlikely Bodybuilder, which follows Fussell’s four years of working on his delts and lats full-time after graduating from Oxford. (You know, just because your name rhymes with "muscle"…) Fussell will write and co-produce with Cianfrance, who will also direct. Hey Derek Cianfrance, it’s not too late to combine this idea with your most recent triumph, and do an unflinchingly real examination of how two gym buddies just don’t want to spot each other anymore. Maybe the Barbarian Brothers are still working?