Overview: The Wool Cap is a 2004 American cable television movie, an updated and Americanized version of the 1962 feature film Gigot starring Jackie Gleason, who wrote the original story.
In this adaptation written by William H. Macy and Steven Schachter, Charlie Gigot is the mute and alcoholic superintendent of a dilapidated New York City apartment building. He becomes the unwilling parent figure for Lou, a young girl temporarily left in his care by a woman who fails to return for her. The two and Gigot's pet monkey struggle to make it through the winter in his ramshackle basement apartment while he tries to find someone willing to take her in.
The film, a co-production of Viacom Productions and 20th Century Fox Television, was shot in Atlanta, Georgia and Montréal, Québec, Canada. Director by Schachter, it starred Macy as Charlie and Keke Palmer as Lou, with Don Rickles, Ned Beatty, Cherise Boothe, Julito McCullum, and Catherine O'Hara in supporting roles.
The film premiered on November 21, 2004 on TNT. It has been released on videotape and DVD.
Fox owns the international ancillary rights, while North American ancillary rights are now in the hands of CBS Television Studios. Paramount Pictures handles video distribution for the CBS library, though this particular program was released on DVD before the Viacom/CBS split.
