In the Heat of the Night Still - H 2014
Courtesy of Everett CollectionAnother remake may be headed to television.
Showtime and MGM Television are developing a new project based on the 1967 Oscar-winning film by Norman Jewison, In the Heat of the Night, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Tate Taylor, who helmed The Help and the James Brown biopic Get On Up, will write and direct, as well as executive produce. Warren Littlefield (Fargo) and John Norris will also serve as executive producers, with The Littlefield Company’s Ann Johnson.
In the Heat of the Night is an exploration of character and race set in modern-day Mississippi, which happens to be Taylor’s home state.
The 1967 feature was based on the 1965 John Ball novel that centered on a white man and a black man working together on a murder investigation in a racially hostile Southern town. It starred Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger and Warren Oates, and was released around the time the U.S. civil rights movement was taking shape. In the Heat of the Night won five Academy Awards in 1967, including best picture, best actor for Steiger and best adapted screenplay.
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NBC previously adapted the film for the small screen with the 1988-92 TV series that starred Carroll O’Connor and Howard Rollins. It later moved to CBS from 1993-94, before airing four made-for-TV movies from 1994-95.
This marks the latest television project for Taylor, who is making his TV directing debut with Netflix comedy Grace & Frankie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. He also has a busy film slate coming up, including Sony’s Tupperware Unsealed project with Sandra Bullock and In the Event of a Moon Disaster.
For Showtime, the news comes after it announced Monday that it would be reviving the cult classic Twin Peaks from David Lynch and Mark Frost for a nine-episode limited series in 2016. The premium network is also developing a remake of Spike Lee‘s 1986 film She’s Gotta Have It into a potential comedy series. If this new iteration of In the Heat of the Night makes it to series, it would join a roster that includes Episodes, House of Lies, the departing Nurse Jackie, Shameless and Web Therapy.
Email: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
