Although James M. Cain's novel Mildred Pierce has already been made into one of the greatest films of the '40s, the news today that HBO is planning a miniseries based on the book does not, oddly enough, fill us with dread. Why not? Because the fine actress Kate Winslet has reportedly signed on to play the neglected wife and mother who goes to extraordinary lengths to protect her ungrateful family; and because the project is being spearheaded by writer-director Todd Haynes, a brilliant pastiche-artist who's certain to bring some of his own semiotics-soaked sensibility to the material. It'll be some kind of two-fisted deconstruction, that's for sure.
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