Terence Winter

Cristin Milioti, the Tony Award-nominated leading lady of the musical romance "Once," could star in a not-so-sweet story on the big screen opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. Milioti reportedly is in talks join the cast of Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street," which chronicles the financial and personal rise and fall of Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio). Milioti is being considered to play Belfort's first wife, an Italian American hairdresser heartbroken by her husband's infidelities.

Growing up in the isolated working-class enclave of Marine Park, Brooklyn, Terence Winter always dreamed of escaping to Manhattan. "Not to be a snob, but Brooklyn in the '70s wasn't the hippest place," says the 51-year-old creator and executive producer of the Prohibition-era drama "Boardwalk Empire," which returns to HBO for the start of its third season Sunday. So Winter is more surprised than anyone to find himself back in Brooklyn - and loving it. "I can't wrap my head around it," Winter confesses at his office at Steiner Studios, the waterfront production complex where much of "Boardwalk Empire" is filmed.

"Boardwalk Empire," the new HBO series set in Atlantic City, N.J., during Prohibition, has attracted plenty of notice, in part because of the pedigree of its creative team, which includes director Martin Scorsese and creator Terence Winter, a writer and producer on "The Sopranos. " Less well known is the executive producer who brought the mob drama to the network, Stephen Levinson, who is actor Mark Wahlberg's manager and producing partner. The duo also produced two earlier high-profile HBO series, "Entourage" and "In Treatment.

Cristin Milioti, the Tony Award-nominated leading lady of the musical romance "Once," could star in a not-so-sweet story on the big screen opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. Milioti reportedly is in talks join the cast of Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street," which chronicles the financial and personal rise and fall of Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio). Milioti is being considered to play Belfort's first wife, an Italian American hairdresser heartbroken by her husband's infidelities.

The participation of Martin Scorsese as an executive producer and the director of its pilot episode would make HBO's big new "Boardwalk Empire" — which premieres Sunday — an event, regardless of whether it were any good. (As it happens, it is good, though perhaps not great; cable shows make their meaning known slowly, and even the six episodes I've seen seem too few to know.) Scorsese is not the first famous director of Filmland to have worked on the small screen, but among his generation he is the weightiest, and the pairing of the maker of "Goodfellas" and "Casino" with a writer from "The Sopranos" — Terence Winter, that series' busiest writer after its creator, David Chase — would seem as natural as that of spaghetti and meatballs.

This is how low-key Steve Buscemi is in real life: He can enter the Cupping Room Café in New York's Soho district and initially go unnoticed even by someone keeping an eye out for him. Hard to imagine such anonymity for a man who has appeared in dozens of movies since the 1980s and who is currently starring in one of HBO's critically acclaimed new series, "Boardwalk Empire. " Eventually, he finds who he's looking for and takes a seat, speaking softly and thoughtfully. "I've had people, strangers, after I get to talk to them a little bit, say, 'Oh, you're calmer than the characters you play,' or something like that," he says.

NEW YORK — Steve Buscemi does not bear much physical resemblance to Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, the tall, broad-shouldered political boss whose 30-year rule of Atlantic City inspired HBO's new Prohibition-era drama "Boardwalk Empire. " But that ended up working in his favor when executive producers Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter were looking to cast the role of Nucky Thompson, the series' fictionalized version of the powerful town treasurer. "We decided not to pigeonhole ourselves to think that way, of a strapping guy with a big booming voice," Winter said.

Growing up in the isolated working-class enclave of Marine Park, Brooklyn, Terence Winter always dreamed of escaping to Manhattan. "Not to be a snob, but Brooklyn in the '70s wasn't the hippest place," says the 51-year-old creator and executive producer of the Prohibition-era drama "Boardwalk Empire," which returns to HBO for the start of its third season Sunday. So Winter is more surprised than anyone to find himself back in Brooklyn - and loving it. "I can't wrap my head around it," Winter confesses at his office at Steiner Studios, the waterfront production complex where much of "Boardwalk Empire" is filmed.

Johnny Depp will next be seen in Disney's "The Lone Ranger" this summer but after that it looks like he's giving popcorn flicks a rest. The Oscar-nominated actor, who became a giant movie star when he first stole the show as Jack Sparrow in 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," announced Wednesday that he was committing to two new movies this year that are decidedly different than his most recent work. First up is Wally Phister's directorial debut "Transcendence," a hush-hush project being shuttled through Warner Bros.

Although the show isn't slated to premiere until next year, HBO ordered 11 additional hourlong episodes of "Boardwalk Empire," a period series set in New Jersey during Prohibition. Martin Scorsese is behind the camera for the one-hour pilot and is also an executive producer on the series created by "Sopranos" alum Terence Winter. The show follows the life of an Atlantic City boss, whose political and mob connections enabled him to run the city. Production is expected to start this fall on the series, based at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, N.Y. -- Martin Miller

This is how low-key Steve Buscemi is in real life: He can enter the Cupping Room Café in New York's Soho district and initially go unnoticed even by someone keeping an eye out for him. Hard to imagine such anonymity for a man who has appeared in dozens of movies since the 1980s and who is currently starring in one of HBO's critically acclaimed new series, "Boardwalk Empire. " Eventually, he finds who he's looking for and takes a seat, speaking softly and thoughtfully. "I've had people, strangers, after I get to talk to them a little bit, say, 'Oh, you're calmer than the characters you play,' or something like that," he says.

"Boardwalk Empire," the new HBO series set in Atlantic City, N.J., during Prohibition, has attracted plenty of notice, in part because of the pedigree of its creative team, which includes director Martin Scorsese and creator Terence Winter, a writer and producer on "The Sopranos. " Less well known is the executive producer who brought the mob drama to the network, Stephen Levinson, who is actor Mark Wahlberg's manager and producing partner. The duo also produced two earlier high-profile HBO series, "Entourage" and "In Treatment.

NEW YORK — Steve Buscemi does not bear much physical resemblance to Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, the tall, broad-shouldered political boss whose 30-year rule of Atlantic City inspired HBO's new Prohibition-era drama "Boardwalk Empire. " But that ended up working in his favor when executive producers Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter were looking to cast the role of Nucky Thompson, the series' fictionalized version of the powerful town treasurer. "We decided not to pigeonhole ourselves to think that way, of a strapping guy with a big booming voice," Winter said.

The participation of Martin Scorsese as an executive producer and the director of its pilot episode would make HBO's big new "Boardwalk Empire" — which premieres Sunday — an event, regardless of whether it were any good. (As it happens, it is good, though perhaps not great; cable shows make their meaning known slowly, and even the six episodes I've seen seem too few to know.) Scorsese is not the first famous director of Filmland to have worked on the small screen, but among his generation he is the weightiest, and the pairing of the maker of "Goodfellas" and "Casino" with a writer from "The Sopranos" — Terence Winter, that series' busiest writer after its creator, David Chase — would seem as natural as that of spaghetti and meatballs.

Now that Ben Affleck has shaved his good-luck Oscar beard, we believe it's safe to officially close the book on the 2012-13 awards season so we can cast a small peek at the treasures that await. What will the coming best picture race look like? Here are 10 candidates: "The Great Gatsby" (May 10): Director, Baz Luhrmann; cast, Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire. Delayed from last year and, like all of Luhrmann's high-style, high-wire movies, guaranteed to be divisive, "Gatsby" could well be this year's "Les Miserables" (without the singing)

HBO has ordered series pilots from "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, "The Sopranos" executive producer Terence Winter and "The Wire" creator David Simon. The proposed series fit well with HBO's programming strategy after the exit of longtime network architect Chris Albrecht. The plan seems to be to greenlight a greater number of shows than in the past, without fundamentally changing the notion of what an HBO series should be. "We've had to be a little more proactive" in pursuing projects, Michael Lombardo, president of the network's programming group, told reporters Thursday.