USA Network plans 'Scarface' miniseries

HOLLYWOOD, March 9 (UPI) -- The USA Network is re-inventing the 1983 Al Pacino gangster film "Scarface" as a new television miniseries with a black cast.

The Pacino movie, itself a remake of a 1932 Howard Hawks film, was about a drug-dealing Cuban refugee in Miami.

The four-hour miniseries would restage the movie in inner-city Los Angeles during the crack epidemic of the 1980s, The Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday.

Charles "Chic" Eglee will write and executive produce the miniseries, which he indicated could be in production as early as the fall in anticipation of a 2005 debut, the trade paper reported.

"It's an iconic story that needs to be told every generation, so there's a huge responsibility here," said Eglee, a veteran television writer who helped create such prime time series as "Dark Angel" and "Murder One."

A director and cast have yet to be named.