Script Report: Steven Zaillian to Pen THE RETURN OF SUPERFLY
April 2nd, 2001
According to Variety, Academy Award winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian (SCHINDLER'S LIST), fresh off his successful screenplay adaption of HANNIBAL, has agreed to write THE RETURN OF SUPERFLY for Imagine and Universal. SUPERFLY is the true story of the rise and fall of Harlem heroin kingpin Frank Lucas.
Last fall Universal and Imagine chairman Brian Grazer won a bidding war for the rights to a New York magazine profile along with the life rights to Lucas and Richie Roberts, the prosecutor who brought Lucas to justice.
Story: As a child growing up in segregated North Carolina, Lucas watched the Ku Klux Klan execute his cousin for taking a liking to a local white girl. He eventually made his way to Harlem and became a heroin kingpin by shipping heroin back to the U.S. in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam. Lucas was dubbed "Superfly" because of his outrageous wardrobe.
"Wiseguy" author Nick Pileggi also is rumored to be involved in the project as executive producer, and pitched the tale as DONNIE BRASCO meets SHAFT. Not a bad angle for a pitch.
-- Chris
(Source: Variety)
Last fall Universal and Imagine chairman Brian Grazer won a bidding war for the rights to a New York magazine profile along with the life rights to Lucas and Richie Roberts, the prosecutor who brought Lucas to justice.
Story: As a child growing up in segregated North Carolina, Lucas watched the Ku Klux Klan execute his cousin for taking a liking to a local white girl. He eventually made his way to Harlem and became a heroin kingpin by shipping heroin back to the U.S. in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam. Lucas was dubbed "Superfly" because of his outrageous wardrobe.
"Wiseguy" author Nick Pileggi also is rumored to be involved in the project as executive producer, and pitched the tale as DONNIE BRASCO meets SHAFT. Not a bad angle for a pitch.
-- Chris
(Source: Variety)
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