Sympathy for the Movie Star

When the writer and director John Morton first heard—via a call from his agent—that the French comedy was being adapted in Britain, it struck him that there were two directions in which the series could go. The French show has drawn a cult following on Netflix over the past few years for its droll, charming portrayal of Parisian film agents and the movie stars who plague and sustain them. A British version, Morton thought, could easily lean all the way into the current trend for poisonous, venal satire; the more inane vipers hissing and biting at one another to get roles for their spoiled, Botoxed