Producer Tony Krantz ("24") is teaming with scribes Christopher McQuarrie ("The Usual Suspects") and Erik Jendresen ("Band of Brothers") to turn Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" into a weekly series for ABC reports Variety.
Coppola is aboard as an exec producer with Touchstone Television close to a deal to serve as the project's studio. ABC has given "The Conversation" a put pilot commitment with a rich penalty attached.
Released in 1974, between Coppola's first two "Godfather" pics, "The Conversation" is a sparse thriller featuring Gene Hackman as master of electronic surveillance Harry Caul.
McQuarrie and Jendresen plan to set the TV version in the present day, with Caul now equally adept at digital spying and traditional audio surveillance. The show will feature close-ended stories, with Caul reluctantly taking on cases in order to help people deserving of assistance.
But there'll also be an ongoing storyline since, as in the movie, Caul will be a man under constant observation by various government agencies due to a secret conversation he's recorded.
A Ronald Bass-scripted take on the film was made in 1995. NBC shot a pilot but didn't order the series.
