Two new NBC series tap decades-old movies for inspiration

Sean Connery and Rob Brown in the 2000 film "Finding Forrester."ARTHUR GRACE/Sony Pictures Entertainment

Two old movies are in the process of being adapted into series for NBC. The network is going back to the 2000 movie “Finding Forrester,” which starred Rob Brown as a basketball star and writing prodigy who bonds with Sean Connery’s reclusive author. The movie was written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant; the show will be written by Rasheed Newson and T.J. Brady, and the recluse will be a lesbian author who’d been caught up in a scandal.

And then Norman Lear is producing a reboot of “Fried Green Tomatoes,” the 1991 movie based on Fannie Flagg’s novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café.” Reba McEntire will star as Idgie Threadgoode on the hourlong drama, which will catch up with characters and descendants of characters from the original. Jennifer Cecil (“Private Practice”) is set to write.