John Turturro Replacing Robert De Niro in HBO's 'Criminal Justice'

To those hoping Robert De Niro would make a True Detective-like transition from the big screen to premium cable, we've got some bad news.

John Turturro has replaced the Oscar winner as the star of Criminal Justice, the seven-hour HBO miniseries based on the 2008 BBC drama of the same name. This marks the second high-profile change in star, as the late James Gandolfini had been slated to star in the lead role before passing away last June. De Niro was hired in September to take over, but he’s reportedly backed out now, and he's taking the backing of his Tribeca Films production company along with it. No word on how, or if, this will affect production just yet.

Turturro will play the lead role of Jack Stone, "an unscrupulous New York City lawyer who defends a Pakistani man (Riz Ahmed) accused of murder." Director Steve Zaillian (All the King’s Men) will helm the project from a script by The Wire's Richard Price. All in all, it seems like it has the potential to be an awesome series. It's a shame De Niro is out, but I believe Turturro is more than capable of picking up the slack. Hell, the guy is already having a great week, with the tremendous box office success of his latest film, Faded Gigolo, in limited release. Basically, everything is coming up Turturro, so why not Criminal Justice too?

Via: Entertainment Weekly

Credit: Robert Zuckerman