‘The Help’ Director Tate Taylor Developing ‘In the Heat of the Night’ TV Series

The Help director Tate Taylor is developing a TV adaptation of 1967 film In the Heat of the Night.

The filmmaker has teamed up with bosses at Showtime network to reboot the Oscar-winning film starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. Taylor will write, direct and executive produce the project.

The 1967 feature film was based on the 1965 John Ball novel which told the story of a white police chief and black police detective collaborating to solve a murder in a racist small town in Mississippi, which happens to be Taylor’s home state.

The movie won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, and it was later adapted into a TV series starring Carroll O’Connor and Howard Rollins that ran for seven seasons until 1994.

In the Heat of the Night marks the latest TV project for Taylor, who is making his small screen directing debut with the highly-anticipated Netflix comedy Grace & Frankie, starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

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