Week in Review...
Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield (COMING TO AMERICA) will write the new version of THE HONEYMOONERS for Paramount and Deep River Prods. Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps have been cast in the Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton roles, respectively, with John Schultz (LIKE MIKE) directing.
Len Wiseman (UNDERWORLD director) is writing BLACK CHAPTER for Disney about the CIA enlisting ghosts as undercover agents.
Russell Mulcahy will direct ESCAPE, the sequel to MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, for Quinta Communications, Miramax Films and IAC Films. The project is based on the book THE RETURN by Billy Hayes.
Patrick Stettner (THE BUSINESS OF STRANGERS) is attached to direct THE NIGHT LISTENER, based on the novel by Armistead Maupin, for Hart Sharp Entertainment. Maupin and writing partner Terry Anderson are working on the script. The book was inspired by a real-life mystery that consumed the author and Anderson for more than six years and resulted in a widely read New Yorker magazine investigation. It centers on a San Francisco writer attempting to bounce back from a broken relationship, who strikes up a long-distance telephone friendship with a dying boy only to be confronted by troubling doubts about the boy's identity.
United Artists and Hart Sharp Entertainment are teaming to develop a film from Anna Thomas Soffee's comic memoir SNAKE HIPS about how the Middle Eastern shimmy helped heal the wounds of a bad bust-up. Sylvia Sichel (ALL OVER ME) will adapt the book about the author's returning to live with her parents in Richmond, Va., after being dumped by her tattoo artist boyfriend. Stumbling upon belly-dancing classes, the author -- a nerdy, rock 'n' roll-loving schoolteacher -- finds distraction from self-pity, a way to reconnect with her Lebanese roots, a rediscovered sense of passion and, ultimately, love.
Amy Heckerling is in talks to direct New Line's NO PLACE LIKE HOME, which will star Vince Vaughn as a cocky, upwardly mobile New Yorker who has the world at his fingertips and a deep aversion to his parents. But when he breaks up with his girlfriend and his life falls apart, he ends up moving into his parents' Long Island house. Margaret Heidenry wrote the script.
F. Gary Gray is in talks to direct BE COOL for MGM and Jersey Films. The studio is hoping for a November start on the Peter Steinfeld-scripted adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel.
Peter Care will direct BRIDGE AND TUNNEL, written by Jonathan Greenberg, Jonathan Lisco and C. Jay Cox, for New Line Cinema and Tribeca Films. It's the story of a suburban 16-year-old who uses his parents' computer to become a whiz-bang day trader and multimillionaire.
Hillary Seitz (INSOMNIA) will script the remake of THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD for Paramount.
Disney picked up the comedy pitch THE OTHER GUY from writers Brent Goldberg and David Wagner (NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VAN WILDER) for Offspring Entertainment to produce with Tapestry Films as a potential vehicle for Adam Shankman to direct. It's about a couple who find their relationship falling apart after 25 years of marriage. As a result, the wife decides to move into the big city in search of adventure and a new life, where she meets the hottest man alive. When he hits on her and the two start dating, her husband is forced to compete with the younger man to win her back.
Guy Ritchie has temporarily halted REVOLVER and will instead turn his attention to SIX SHOOTERS, a Civil War-era heist pic at Columbia. Shooting is expected to begin in March. John Enbom wrote the script that takes place in the last days of the Civil War. Confederate President Jefferson Davis loaded the entire gold reserves aboard trains during the siege of Richmond. Two Union officers along with two infantrymen, one a former slave and the other a brothel owner, plot to steal the loot.
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