CBS is developing a TV adaptation of L.A. Confidential. Based on James Ellroy’s classic novel of the same name, the series would follow the paths of three homicide detectives, a female reporter, and a Hollywood actress as they intersect while the detectives pursue a sadistic serial killer through the seedy underbelly of 1950’s Los Angeles.
New Regency, Lionsgate Television and CBS Television Studios will produce, with New Regency’s Arnon Milchan serving as executive producer. Jordan Harper is set to write and executive produce. Harper previously wrote for and produced the CBS drama “The Mentalist.” Most recently, he served as a writer and supervising producer on Fox’s Gotham.
The novel was first published in 1990, the third entry in Ellroy’s “L.A. Quartet,” which explored life in the City of Angels in the 1940’s and ’50s. The other books are The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, and White Jazz. L.A. Confidential was subsequently adapted into the 1997 film of the same name. It starred Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, Russel Crowe, Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell, and Danny DeVito with Curtis Hanson directing.
