WandaVision director Matt Shakman has signed on to direct the Hulu limited series Immigrant, Deadline has learned. Shakman replaces previously announced director Ramin Bahrani, who recently departed the series.
Immigrant is the true story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee, the Indian-American entrepreneur who started Chippendales. The series will detail the insane, darkly comedic, crime-ridden story behind the unique male revue that became a cultural phenomenon.
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Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals) is set to star, playing Banerjee, and will executive produce this series, which will consist of eight episodes. Robert Siegel, also the writer of Hulu’s Pam & Tommy, will work alongside Nanjiani as writer and executive producer. Jacqui Rivera is co-executive producer and Annie Wyman is co-producer. 20th Television serves as the studio on the series.
Also joining the series is Quentin Plair (The Good Lord Bird) who will recur opposite Kumail Nanjiani and Nicola Peltz (Transformers: Age of Extinction) who will guest star in multiple episodes. Plair will play Otis, the sole black dancer at Chippendales’ LA outpost until a dramatic falling-out with its owner Steve Banerjee (Nanjiani) over the club’s questionable admission policies regarding race. Peltz will portray Dorothy Stratten. Both sexy and wholesome, Dorothy Stratten, who’s managed by her sleazy husband Paul Snider, was a Playboy Playmate, actress, and, least likely of all, a key player in the founding of the male strip club Chippendales.
In 2021, the podcast series Welcome to Your Fantasy discussed the murder plot of several Chippendale members that Banerjee attempted to execute and which, ultimately, led to his own demise.
