Sin City TV Series

Sin City, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's adaptation of the latter's noirish graphic novels, is to be made into a TV series.

The project is one of several on a tantalising slate for a new TV production company being set up by the Weinstein brothers through their new outfit, The Weinstein Co.

The Miramax founders, who left their own firm after a dispute with parent company Disney over their desire to make larger, more costly films, look set to use all their big screen connections as they vie to make inroads in the television sphere.

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The 1998 Matt Damon and Ed Norton film Rounders, about a reformed gambler forced to return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks, will also transfer to the small screen.

The Weinsteins have also persuaded Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of The English Patient, to direct the pilot of a TV adaptation of Alexander McCall's novel The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency. Richard Curtis, of Love Actually fame, will take on screenwriting duties, with Ally McBeal's David E Kelly producing.

The move onto the small screen makes sound business sense for the brothers as they embark on their new venture. Television is increasingly being seen as a viable competitor to cinema with US series such as The West Wing, The Sopranos and Lost adopting production values which would once only have been seen in major Hollywood films. At the same time, box office figures are falling while DVD sales are at an all-time high.

Perhaps less appealing, but also on the Weinstein's slate, is a modelling reality show named Project Catwalk, which will be hosted by Elizabeth Hurley.

It is not yet known whether Sin City or Rounders' cinematic casts will also feature in the small-screen spin-offs.

[ Can never have enough TV ]