Hedge funds go Hollywood: Showtime orders TV series 'Billions'

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Showtime has ordered 12 episodes of the drama "Billions," a showdown between a hedge fund king played by Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti's hard-charging U.S. attorney, the premium cable network said on Tuesday. CBS Corp-owned Showtime described the show as "a complex and contemporary drama about power politics in the New York world of high finance." Lewis, the Emmy-winning star of TV series "Homeland" and "Band of Brothers," plays the "brilliant, ambitious" hedge fund titan, Bobby "Axe" Axelrod. Giamatti, famous for wine country comedy "Sideways" and HBO series "John Adams," for which he won an Emmy, is politically savvy U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades. "Billions" will be written and executive produced by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, writing partners on the films "Ocean's Thirteen" and "Rounders," and by Andrew Ross Sorkin, a New York Times columnist and co-anchor of CNBC's squawk box. The drama is slated for a 2016 premiere, while production begins later this year, and the series will be shot in New York, Showtime said. (This story corrects to say Andrew Sorkin is co-anchor of CNBC’s squawk box, not a guest host, in paragraph five) (Reporting by Mary Milliken; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Jeffrey Benkoe)