HBO, Kate Winslet team for 'Mildred Pierce' mini

Todd Haynes will direct Winslet's attempt to equal Joan Crawford

By HitFix Staff Friday, Feb 12, 2010 2:02 AM

Kate Winslet

Credit: Mark J. Terrill/AP

HBO is moving forward with plans to adapt James M. Cain's pulp classic "Mildred Pierce" as a five-hour miniseries to star Kate Winslet.

The project will be directed by Todd Haynes ("Far From Heaven") from a script he co-wrote with Jon Raymond. Haynes will also executive produce along with Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon of Killer Films and John Wells, according to Variety.

"Mildred Pierce," was previously brought to the big screen by director Michael Curtiz in a 1945 feature which was a Best Picture nominee and earned an Oscar for Joan Crawford.

Winslet will step into the Crawford role as Mildred Pierce, who leaves her philandering husband, only to find that independence brings about a noir-ish world of infidelities, double-dealing and, yeah, murder.

News that Haynes and Winslet were attached to the project first broke last August.

Winslet earned an Emmy nomination in 2006 for her guest work on HBO's "Extras." She won her first Oscar last spring for "The Reader."