“We need to be in the event business,” NBC exec Bob Greenblatt told the Television Critics Association on Saturday. And he’s not joking. The network unveiled plans for a Hillary Clinton biopic led by Diane Lane, and they’ve also got a couple projects brewing that will certainly get folks talking.
Among those that will stir up ire among cinephiles are plans for NBC to produce a 4-hour miniseries of “Rosemary’s Baby,” based on the novel by Ira Levin. Of course, Roman Polanski directed the 1968 adaptation starring Mia Farrow, which is still considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Not many details were available as to the creative talent behind this reboot, though it’s been promised that it will be an “edge-of-your-seat thriller” with the setting switched from Manhattan to Paris. Maybe there’s more Satanists there? Either way, good luck…
Meanwhile, the network also wants to get in on the action with Stephen King, particularly with rivals CBS doing well this summer with “Under The Dome.” And so, NBC will dust off “The Tommyknockers” for a brand new mini-series, even though ABC did one 20 years ago (though it was pretty crap by all accounts), in a version starring Jimmy Smits, Marg Helgenberger, and Traci Lords. No word yet who NBC will get to star in their account of the residents of Haven, Maine who discover a flying saucer buried in their town, which leads to everyday objects coming to life and killing many of them (yes, really), but Yves Simoneau (“Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee“) will direct.
Well, “Rosemary’s Baby” aside, we will say this about NBC— they’re getting ambitious. Between all these projects and next year’s Alfonso Cuarón/J.J. Abrams joint “Believe” (watch the trailer here), they have an interesting slate brewing, one that could possibly see the network rise back to primetime glory. [Inquisitr/EW]