Joy was unconfined among fans of cancelled HBO neo-noir sitcom Bored To Death last week when it was revealed that creator Jonathan Ames and star Jason Schwartzman had landed the chance to make a film based on the show. It would seem that that’s not the only project the pair are cooking up as they’re also working to adapt Bernard Malamud’s short story collection Pictures Of Fidelman.

Malamud’s stories follow Arthur Fidelman, a hapless art student who heads to Rome sometime in the middle of the 20th century. While there are several tales in the book, the filmmakers are looking at Still Life and Naked Nude in particular, but according to the Hollywood Reporter other entries may end up feeding into the script.

It’s early days for the project, which doesn’t yet have any financial backing, but Schwartzman wants to star and Ames wants to produce the film in Rome.

Any movie also have to wait for Schwartzman to finish work on Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, but Ames is keeping himself busy while his friend plays with his other pals: he’s adapting several books, including Donald Westlake’s 361, and his own novel Wake Up, Sir! which hit shelves in 2005.

Ames has also clarified that the Bored To Death film, which he’s figuring out on top of everything else, won’t be for cinematic release, but instead shown on the series’ old stomping ground of HBO. "HBO has always been very good to me," he tells the Hollywood Reporter, "and I had a meeting with them and said: 'I think this would be a fun thing to try. I had so many ideas for season four, so many interesting images, can I have a shot at maybe making a movie or writing a movie?' And they’ve always been good to me, and they said yes."