John Turturro to Replace Robert De Niro in HBO's CRIMINAL JUSTICE Miniseries

According to The Hollywood Reporter, John Turturro has signed on to replace Robert De Niro in HBO's seven-hour miniseries CRIMINAL JUSTICE. Steven Zaillian had been working on bringing to the network with the late James Gandolfini for the past four years before his death in 2013, who De Niro then replaced.

The drama is based on the BBC BAFTA-award winning series from Peter Moffat and is to be adapted for HBO by Zaillian and Richard Price. The original series, set in New York City, followed a person through the justice system as they went on trial for murder. Turturro will portray Jack Stone, a downtrodden jailhouse attorney who frequents police stations for clients. There, he finds a client: Naz, an American-born Pakistani.

The network had already filmed the pilot with Gandolfini. When the 51-year-old actor died unexpectedly in June 2013, execs were unsure if the series would continue.

"I can't imagine us airing the pilot with James in it," HBO's President of Programming Michael Lombardo said last year. "Jim's passing took the wind out of sails quite a bit at HBO, so it's taken some time to even have conversations with Steve [Zaillian]. It's hard to think about replacing him." He added, "the conversation would be about reshooting the portion that Jim had already performed in and recasting."

Gandolfini will be listed as an executive producer when the series premieres.

Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Transformers film series and Quiz Show, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He has appeared in over sixty films, and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, Adam Sandler and Spike Lee.

He most recently wrote and directed the comedy Fading Gigolo, which he also stars in, alongside Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Liev Schreiber and Sofia Vergara. The film will have its Polish premiere at the festival.

Other notable acting credits include Mr. Deeds, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, comedy Anger Management,Secret Window, Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Box of Moon Light, Cars 2 and Tony Scott's The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.

Turturro directed several films including the drama Illuminata, rom com musical Romance and Cigarettes and Passione. His stage directorial debut was in October 2011, with the Broadway play Relatively Speaking, written by Elaine May, Woody Allen and Ethan Coen.

In addition, Turturro won an Emmy award for his portrayal of Adrian Monk's brother Ambrose in the USA Network series Monk, and has reprised the role on numerous occasions.

Photo by Walter McBride