Screenwriter Steve Zaillian is taking a new crack at adapting Michael Lewis’s bestselling MONEYBALL for Columbia pictures, with David Frankel directing, as a starring vehicle for Brad Pitt. Michael De Luca and Rachael Horovitz are producing. Sony optioned the book in 2004 and already commission one screenplay from Stan Chervin, Variety reports.
Film/TV
Building Buzz for Twilight Movie
The Hollywood Reporter looks at building anticipation for the November release of the Twilight film:” A year ago, few took notice when Summit said that it was developing a movie based on the first of young-adult writer Stephenie Meyer’s four-book series detailing a tragic high school romance between Bella, who comes to a small town after her parents split, and Edward, her secret crush who as it turns out is a vampire. That Summit had attached Catherine Hardwicke, director of the arty “thirteen,” confirmed for many that the studio saw the film as a niche play. But in the months […]
Trial Date for Tolkien Heirs' Suit
The lawsuit brought by HarperCollins and the Tolkien estate against New Line Cinema seeking unpaid royalties from the Lord of the Rings films, alleging breach of contract and fraud, has been scheduled for trial in Los Angeles in October 2009. LA Superior Court Judge Ann Jones found that there is a legal basis for the fraud claim, though she disallowed any claim of punitive damages. (The suit asks for over $150 in compensatory damages.) The suit also asks the court to terminate New Line’s rights to make movies based on the Hobbit–ironically slated to be directed by just-announced HarperCollins author […]
Sparks Writes for Both Grand Central and Miley Cyrus
Nicholas Sparks’s new novel, for publication in fall 2009, is being written simultaneously with the author’s own adaptation of that story as a starring vehicle for Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus (Offspring Entertainment is producing, for Walt Disney Pictures). Sparks had pitched “a premise for a novel that intrigued Cyrus, her family and the producers,” Variety says, though no details are being shared. Sparks says, “This is similar to the way it’s gone with movies based on my novels; it’s just out of order. Certain opportunities garner your interest, and this was one of those.”Variety
Film Before Book: An Unusual Take
It’s a long story but here’s the gist: Author Scott Campbell’s book was adapted for film by Oscar-winning German director Caroline Link and debuted at the Toronto Film Festival as “Im Winter ein Jahr” (A Year Ago in Winter)” but the manuscript–finished in 2004–never found a publisher. The Boston Globe says “when the film, which is still seeking American distribution, was over, the audience enthusiastically applauded.” Campbell “wrote it after a friend of his, a painter, told him about his experience doing a portrait for a family whose son had died suddenly. They wanted him to put the surviving daughter […]
Either Way, Tintin Gets a Top Director
Brussels’ Herge Studios caused a bit of confusion yesterday in announcing that Peter Jackson would direct the first film in a planned Tintin trilogy for Dreamworks. A representative for Steven Spielberg says that he still intends to direct the film, and a representative for Jackson agrees. Jackson will be a producer on the first film film and intends to direct the second one; first he has to complete Lovely Bones (in post-production) and write scripts for the two Hobbit movies. The first Tintin is based on two books, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure, with a screenplay […]