Haynes and Winslet Head To HBO For “Mildred Pierce” Variety is reporting an intensely interesting development: Todd Haynes will write and direct an miniseries adaptation of James M. Cain’s novel “Mildred Pierce,” with Kate Winslet attached to star in the role of “a bored housewife who gets into the restaurant business, an enterprise that leads to back-stabbing, romance and murder.” Joan Crawford won an Oscar for the film adaptation in 1945.