'Mildred Pierce - don't ever tell anyone what she did."

And Kate Winslet didn't want to know. That was the promotional line for the 1945 film starring Joan Crawford in her Oscar-winning performance. Winslet - an Oscar winner herself - is taking part in the Pie Queen of Glendale in HBO's new adaptation of James M. Cain's 1941 novel, which begins tonight.

The 5 -hour miniseries is directed by Todd Haynes, best known for the 1950s melodrama "Far From Heaven" and the Bob Dylan stylized biopic "I'm Not There." The director left it up to Winslet as to whether or not she should see the Michael Curtiz-directed film, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, but warned her that it was very different from the novel and what he planned to do.