Kate Winslet is attached to “Mildred Pierce,” a miniseries adaptation based on the James M. Cain novel that Todd Haynes is writing and directing. Sources said that HBO is the lead contender to get the mini, but payweb sources said no deal has been struck. 

Cain’s tale was famously turned into a 1945 film that won Joan Crawford an Oscar for the lead role of a bored housewife who gets into the restaurant business, an enterprise that leads to back-stabbing, romance and murder.

The involvement of Winslet–right after her Oscar-winning performance in ”The Reader” and her work in ”Revolutionary Road”–underscores how much paywebs like HBO have become prestige venues for films that might vanish as theatrical releases, a fact underscored by the success of “Grey Gardens,” which garnered Emmy noms for Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.

Haynes directed “I’m Not There,” “Safe” and “Far From Heaven.”

Source: Variety