The last adaptation of James M. Cain novel Mildred Pierce won star Joan Crawford an Oscar - but having already bagged that particular prize, Kate Winslet's apparently on the verge of signing to star in a mini-series of the story, for Far From Heaven director Todd Haynes.
The noirish story centres on the shoulder-padded Pierce (Winslet) whose husband leaves her to raise two teenage daughters. She starts a restaurant and makes a success of it, but her spoiled elder daughter Veda demands more and more from her - finally leading to marriage, betrayal, blackmail and murder. There's no word yet on whether this will be set in the 1940s or updated, but we're guessing the former, given Haynes' comfort with period pieces.
The 1945 film was probably the greatest Joan Crawford role ever conceived, allowing her to both vamp it up and martyr herself at the same time. Winslet is an unexpected choice for this - she's extremely young to play the mother of a teenage daughter - but the more we think about it, the more we're sure she can nail both the compassion and the hard edges of the role.
Todd Haynes is directing, and rumour has it that HBO is the forerunner to show this in the US, so expect it to be shown on BBC2 or Channel 4 one night around 11.13pm, judging by how British TV treats other HBO productions.