EXCLUSIVE: James Mangold is revisiting the movie that catapulted him into the top ranks of Hollywood filmmakers, the 1997 Cop Land, headlined by Sylvester Stallone. In his return to television after almost a decade, Mangold is set to co-write, direct and executive produce a series adaptation of his movie, from Paramount Television Studios and Miramax Television.
James Mangold revives Cop Land as a TV series with Paramount and Miramax
Co-written and executive produced by The Old Man co-creator Robert Levine, who will serve as showrunner, the crime drama was recently taken out and has already garnered four offers, sources said.
Cop Land, which would mark Mangold's first series as a writer, stems from the overall deal the five-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker signed with Paramount Pictures in September, a month after Skydance's acquisition of Paramount Global. The project's origins date back to conversations Mangold had had with Jonathan Glickman following Glickman's appointment as Miramax CEO two years ago about adapting the title from the studio's movie library to television.
Under Paramount's post-merger structure, Paramount Pictures co-chair Dana Goldberg also oversees Paramount Television Studios, a move designed to facilitate communication between the movie and the streaming-focused TV studio, allowing talent to migrate between the two. (Some of Paramount's high-profile talent deals made since the merger, including pacts with the Duffer Brothers and Issa Rae, span both film and TV.)
New Paramount has been in the James Mangold business from Day One. The first big feature project announced hours after the merger closed was High Side, Mangold's re-team with Timothée Chalamet following their recent collaboration on A Complete Unknown, which Paramount won in a bidding war.
The overall feature deal with Mangold followed, and conversations under that pact led to the idea for turning Cop Land into a TV series. Mangold wrote and directed the well reviewed film, which starred Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro alongside Stallone, a formidable cast for a filmmaker with only a small indie movie, Heavy, under his belt until then. Distributed by Miramax, Cop Land grossed $63.7 million on a $15 million budget.
This would mark the highest-profile Paramount-Miramax TV collaboration to date. Paramount owns 49% of the indie studio, a co-venture with Qatar's beIN Media Group. Mining the Miramax library is a focus for Paramount TV Studios, along with pursuing Paramount film IP and developing original ideas.
Since its launch, Paramount TV Studios has sold several high-profile projects with straight-to-series orders, both to sibling Paramount+ (9/12) and outside streamers (The Corrections to Netflix.)
Cop Land starred Stallone as the sheriff of a small New Jersey town who comes into conflict with the corrupt New York City police officers who live there. The cast also included Peter Berg, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra, Noah Emmerich and Cathy Moriarty.
Mangold 's feature directing credits also include Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, as well as the Adapted Screenplay Oscar nominee Logan, Best Picture nominee Ford v. Ferrari and Best Picture and Best Director nominee A Complete Unknown.
In TV, he most recently executive produced the USA series Damnation, which streamed on Netflix. He also executive produced CBS's Zoo as well as CBS's Vegas and NYC 22 and ABC's Men In Trees, whose pilots he directed. Mangold is repped by WME, Entertainment 360 and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
Levine was co-creator and executive producer on the FX series The Old Man starring Jeff Bridges. He also created and executive produced Starz's Black Sails and worked on Jericho, Harpers Island, Human Target and Touch. Levine is repped by WME and TFC Management.
