CI Centre | Masterspy: The Robert Hanssen Story, a CBS miniseries

Knight, Silver, Boyle infiltrate CBS' 'Masterspy'

Thu Jun 6, 2002; 3:09 AM ET

Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Wayne Knight, Ron Silver and Peter Boyle have come on board to star in CBS' miniseries "Masterspy: The Robert Hanssen Story," about veteran FBI agent and convicted spy Robert Hanssen.

Knight, best known for his stint as Jerry Seinfeld's nemesis Newman on NBC's "Seinfeld," is in final negotiations to play FBI analyst Walter Ballau, a composite character based on three FBI analysts who were close with Hanssen (William Hurt) during different stages of his career. One of them identified Hanssen's voice on an audio tape handed over by Russia's KGB, which became a crucial piece of evidence in the case against the spy.

Silver is set to play Mike Shepherd, the head of counterintelligence for the FBI, who is a composite of two bosses Hanssen had at the agency.

Boyle, co-star of CBS' hit comedy "Everybody Loves Raymond (news - Y! TV)," is set play Hanssen's father.

"These are three fine actors, and I'm very fortunate that I have such good actors working with me," executive producer and director Lawrence Schiller said.

Mary-Louise Parker was previously cast as Hanssen's wife, Bonnie.

"Masterspy" is being produced by Schiller's Oakdale Prods. in association with Fox TV Pictures. Schiller is executive producing with Norman Mailer.

The mini, which is set to air next season, is scheduled to begin production July 11 in Moscow.

Knight is keeping busy with two projects this summer. Following "Masterspy," he is poised to segue to the indie feature "Puppy Love." He is in final negotiations to star opposite Mary Walsh in the movie from Devine Entertainment. In the family comedy written by Walsh, Knight and Walsh will play husband and wife.

Knight recently co-starred with Walsh in the Showtime telefilm "Bleacher Bums."

He also co-starred in the feature "Rat Race" and "Jurassic Park" and was a regular on NBC's comedy "3rd Rock From the Sun."

Knight is repped by Writers & Artists.

"Masterspy" reunites Silver and Schiller, who worked together on another CBS telefilm, the 2000 adaptation of Schiller's book about the O.J. Simpson murder case, "American Tragedy," in which Silver played Robert Shapiro.

Silver most recently portrayed Bobby Riggs in ABC's telefilm "When Billie Beat Bobby," and he played Angelo Dundee in Michael Mann's film "Ali." He is repped by ICM and Industry Entertainment.

In addition to his Emmy-nominated role in "Raymond" as Frank Barone, Boyle recently got strong reviews for his performance in the feature "Monster's Ball." He is repped by Innovative Artists.