HBO’s partnership with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone continue to flourish as a new series is in the works. Jonathan Demme (having most recently directed Anne Hathaway to an Oscar nomination in Rachel Getting Married) is teaming with Walter Mosley to co-write a pilot based on the author’s new detective novel series The Long Fall. Demme will direct the pilot episode which introduces an ex-boxer who turns private investigator.
This isn’t Mosley’s first foray into Hollywood. His hardboiled novel Devil in a Blue Dress was made into a 1995 movie starring Denzel Washington as 1940s detective Easy Rawlins.
With the adaptation of The Long Fall Playtone continues to build on an already stellar showcase on HBO. Playtone production Big Love has been renewed for a fifth season, and HBO is soon to launch the soon-to-be-epic 10-part miniseries The Pacific on March 14th, which Hanks and Goetzman exec produced with Steven Spielberg.
Demme’s involvement is just the latest in a number of big-name directors (some Oscar winners) signing on to direct pilots for HBO. Martin Scorsese’s working on the pilot for Boardwalk Empire; Michael Mann (Public Enemies) is directing the series pilot Luck, which was written by Deadwood creator David Milch. Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) and David Fincher (Fight Club) also have projects in development at HBO.
Source: Deadline Hollywood
