Phil Rosenthal, Adam Shankman to Adapt Japan’s ‘Train Man’ for Global Road TV

By Cynthia Littleton

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – CANNES — “Everybody Loves Raymond” creator Phil Rosenthal and “Step Up” director Adam Shankman have cut a deal to adapt the Japanese TV series “Train Man” as a musical comedy for the U.S. market.

Rosenthal has teamed with “Raymond” alum Tucker Cawley and director Shankman to created a half-hour series based on Fuji TV’s “Train Man” property for Global Road Television, Vertigo Entertainment, Fuji TV and Amuse Group USA. Rosenthal and Cawley will pen the adaptation with Shankman on board to direct. The project was unveiled Tuesday at the Mipcom international TV sales conference.

“Train Man” tells the story of a nerdy young man who overcomes his shyness to initiate a romantic relationship with a young woman. The property stemmed from real-life online postings that led to a graphic novel, feature film and TV series in Japan. The deal marks Fuji TV’s first sale of a property for remake in the U.S.

“This unique and massively popular world is fertile ground for original storytelling,” Shankman said.

Mark Stern, president of scripted content for Global Road Television, observed: “Safe to say, with this unique source material and these incredible talents, ‘Train Man’ is going to be unlike anything else out there.”

Exec producers with Rosenthal, Cawley and Shankman are Roy Lee, Vertigo Entertainment’s Michael Connolly, Offspring Entertainment’s Jennifer Gibgot, Tatsuro Hatanaka from Amuse USA and Fuji TV’s Satoshi Kubota.

(Pictured: Adam Shankman)