Collectively they've been nominated for 16 Oscars (for three wins). They are three of the biggest names in movies. And now they could be coming to a television set near you.
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In further proof – if any were still needed – that the divide between big screen and small in terms of quality has all but disappeared, the names of writer-director David O. Russell and actors Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore are reportedly being hawked around broadcast networks and streaming services in Hollywood as a package, linked to a project whose details remain very sketchy indeed.
According to Deadline, the project may be a multi-series drama, may be set in the 1990s, and may involve crime and/or cops (funnily enough, the two often go hand in hand).
De Niro has, of course, played both sides of the law throughout his long career, but one of his finest roles came in Michael Mann's 1995 crime/cop film Heat (he played career bank robber Neil McCauley, who is pursued by Al Pacino's detective Vincent Hanna).
He has also worked with Russell before, on Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Hustle (2013) and Joy (2015). The pair are also developing a true-crime story through De Niro's Tribeca Productions company.
Moore and De Niro have acted together just once before, in the 2012 drama Being Flynn.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the agency doing the selling on Russell's new and as-yet untitled offering, CAA, already has "multiple offers for the project" – despite the fact there is barely any project to speak of.
Russell is, apparently, "expected to begin pitching the potential series next week when he returns from vacation".
Exciting as it all sounds, past form suggests there is no guarantee anything will come of all this.
In 2014, Russell was lined up as the key creative force behind a 13-part series called The Club for the US network ABC. Billed as a kind of upstairs/downstairs comedic soap opera set in a private country club in Connecticut, it starred Natalie Zea (Justified) and John Stamos (Full House, Glee). But less than a month after the deal was announced in January 2014, Russell left the project.
Production on the show – renamed Members Only – went ahead anyway, and filming began in September 2014.
Sadly, Members Only was cancelled before it ever went to air and remains unscreened outside the hallowed halls of ABC.
One things seems certain in all this: if Russell's new project really does get off the ground, it's unlikely to face a similar fate.
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