Spike Lee and Robert De Niro go TV

It looks like TV is still able to attract big name film talent - following in the footsteps of Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Spike Lee are developing Alphaville.

It'll focus on the history of what is now New York's East Village - but was once known as Alphabet City.

Set in the 1980s, it'll chronicle the troubled past lived by a mix of struggling artists and musicians and the racial tensions that also flared up (think Rent, but edgier. And less breaking out into show tunes).

The boiling point came with the Tompkins Square Park riot in 1988 (above), which saw police clashing with anarchists and homeless activists.

John Ridley's writing the pilot script for Showtime, with Lee likely to direct the launch episode and De Niro providing producing muscle.

[Source: THR ]

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James White is a freelance journalist who has been covering film and TV for over two decades. In that time, James has written for a wide variety of publications including Total Film and SFX. He has also worked for BAFTA and on ODEON's in-cinema magazine.