Winslet, Haynes make reservation for 'Mildred Pierce' mini (VAR)

By Nancy Tartaglione

Kate Winslet is taking a trip to the small screen via a miniseries adaptation of the James M. Cain novel "Mildred Pierce." Todd Haynes is writing and directing. Sources told Variety that HBO is the lead contender to get the series, but no deal has been struck.

Joan Crawford won an Oscar in 1945 for her portrayal of the eponymous bored housewife who gets into the restaurant business, an enterprise that leads to backstabbing, romance and murder.

Winslet won an Oscar earlier this year for Stephen Daldry's "The Reader" so it could seem surprising that she would jump to TV at this particular time. Still, as Variety points out, the success of "Grey Gardens" for actresses Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange shows that a pay web like HBO creates a large audience for a picture that might not find one as a theatrical release.

Oscar-nominated "Far From Heaven" hyphenate Todd Haynes was last behind the camera for 2007's Bob Dylan (sort of) biopic "I'm Not There."