According to the Hollywood Reporter, Martin Scorsese will direct the program, which centers around Atlantic City when it was a burgeoning gambling hub.

Penned by "Sopranos" scribe Terrence Winter, the pilot is based on "Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City" by Nelson Johnson.

Joining Sparks will be Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Aleksa Palladino, Shea Whigham and Anthony Laciura.

Buscemi is signed to play the head of a liquor distribution ring, with Pitt and Laciura as his assistants; Sparks portrays a funeral director who moonlights as a bootlegger.