Montreal: Fans of the late Mordecai Richler have reason to celebrate, as his popular novel St. Urbain’s Horseman is being made into a miniseries for the CBC.

Director Peter Moss (Booky Makes Her Mark, External Affairs) is adapting Horseman – first published in 1971 – as a two-part four-hour big-ticket with Montreal prodco Galafilm. The $7.5-million production, backed by CTF, is slated to air on CBC in spring 2007.

‘I have had this idea for four years,’ says Galafilm head Arnie Gelbart (Steel Toes), who will produce the mini with Ian Whitehead. ‘There really hasn’t been much Mordecai Richler that’s been done for TV. I remember reading this book and loving it, so I secured the rights.’

Gelbart says Richler’s rich and dry sense of humor was important to keep intact, something screenwriter Joe Wiesenfeld (Anne of Green Gables) ‘has done a great job of maintaining.’

‘Richler employs an arsenal of literary devices, and those can be tough to transplant into a script,’ says Gelbart. ‘That’s what took us some time, but we’re there now.’

Gelbart says it’s fitting that Galafilm is bringing the project to the screen, given that the neighborhood Richler captures in such detail, Mile End, is where the company is based.

‘We’re about two blocks from where Richler grew up,’ notes Gelbart. ‘The great thing about Richler was that his work was so specific to this neighborhood, but it is also very universal. He has fans all over the world.’

St. Urbain’s Horseman will star David Julian Hirsh (Naked Josh), with Norayr Kasper (Last Exit, Calendar) serving as DOP. It is scheduled to shoot from Sept. 10 to Nov. 30.