The sad and untimely death of James Gandolfini earlier in the year had left his passion project – a US adaptation of British crime drama CRIMINAL JUSTICE he was developing at HBO alongside Steven Zaillian – without a lead. Well, to his fans he’ll never be forgotten, much like his now confirmed replacement Robert De Niro. The Oscar-winning acting icon will take the role of a New York criminal defence attorney who gets in over-his-head when he takes on the case of a young Pakistani man accused of murdering a girl on the Upper West Side of the city.
De Niro will lead the seven-hour mini-series which Zaillian wrote and is slated to direct the pilot beginning production in March. It will also star Riz Ahmed, Bill Camp, Payman Maadi and Poorna Jagannathan.
The original 2008 BBC series starred Ben Whishaw, Maxine Peake, Ruth Negga and Eddie Marsan.
Source: Deadline
