Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore to star in TV crime series - reports

Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore have been tapped to star in an as yet unnamed crime thriller. PHOTOS: AFP

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Film-maker David O. Russell has tapped Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore to star in a new television series, reports said Tuesday (Aug 9).

The as yet untitled show will be a crime thriller, possibly set in the 1990s, and set to run for several seasons, according to film website Deadline.

The project, expected to be a serialised miniseries, is reportedly being offered to cable and streaming outlets and has already garnered several competitive offers, various media are reporting.

Russell - whose films include 2013 crime comedy American Hustle and 2015 biopic Joy - executive produced SyFy's Outer Space Astronauts, but has never directed a television series.

In 2014, he co-wrote a TV series set in a private country club, ABC's The Club, but left the project without explanation and the show never aired.

Moore is no stranger to the small screen, having won an Emmy for playing Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin in HBO TV movie Game Change.

De Niro - who worked with Russell on Silver Linings Playbook and Joy - is due to appear as financier Bernie Madoff in the network's forthcoming film Wizard Of Lies.

Both Moore and De Niro and have also appeared as guest stars on comedy 30 Rock.

Movie stars were at one time hardly ever seen in TV series, but in recent years some of the most talked-about performances by big name Hollywood actors have been on the small screen.

HBO's True Detective, which debuted in 2014, starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, with Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn picking up the reins in the second season.

Other recent shows with silver screen A-listers include Showtime's House Of Lies, with Don Cheadle and - perhaps the most successful of all - Netflix political drama House Of Cards, with Kevin Spacey in the lead role.

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