James Purefoy — Rome's very own Mark Antony — is in talks to follow in the deft footsteps of Roger Moore (and, well, Val Kilmer) and play international thief Simon Templar in a new and contemporary adaptation of The Saint. According to the Reporter, producers Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana and Bill Macdonald, writer Jorge Zamacona, and Moore himself are all involved in the project, with Levinson set to direct a two-hour TV-movie/backdoor pilot.
A new incarnation of The Saint was on TNT's development slate for 2007, yet never came to be. It now is being produced independently, and then will be shopped to networks.