Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore are heading to television. Well, “television” that is. Amazon is throwing its weight around again in pursuit of prestige television, and the latest project is a De Niro and Moore-led series that is set to be helmed by David O. Russell. According to The Hollywood Reporter Amazon has already committed to two eight-episode seasons of the show, which will be both written and directed by Russell. It is supposedly a mafia drama, and depending on where it is set may mean both Oscar winners will get to show off their talents with accents.
De Niro has famously worked with Russell recently in multiple films – including Silver Linings Playbook and Joy – in a collaboration that matches Russell’s with Jennifer Lawrence (minus that whole dating thing). The Taxi Driver actor and Moore also worked together recently in the 2012 family drama Being Flynn so they are already familiar with working alongside each other.
This series isn’t a cheap project for Amazon either. Reports say that Russell required multiple millions of dollars as a commitment from networks and platforms before he would even pitch them the show. Talk about being confident in your wares. The total price tag for the show – which doesn’t even have a name or an official log line yet – is set at $10M an episode, or a total of $160M. Not exactly chump change to secure a creator whose movies have gotten less and less positive reviews as they go on (not to mention someone who has never helmed a TV show before). Part of those millions will go directly to De Niro’s pockets as he is expected to receive $850,000 per episode to participate. The Intern doesn’t pay for that retirement mansion all by itself.
The series does not currently have an anticipated premiere date, which means that these two talented leads have plenty of time to do character work while re-watching Goodfellas a bunch of times together.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
