Elston Gunn's WEEKLY SCRIPT REPORT (Major Sales, Events, and other News!)
April 6th, 2001
- Greg Schaffer and Steve Joe (REVEREND PIMP DADDY rewriters) will rewrite the comedy VICTORY & LOCO for Warner Bros. and Denise Di Novi Pictures. It's about a couple of guys who, after watching too many reruns, think they are a 1970s cop team.
- Patrick Cirillo (MAN OF WAR) will rewrite THE ALCHEMIST for Alcon Pictures. It's about an ex-CIA agent who is summoned to investigate several terrorist acts perpetrated by high-ranking U.S. military personnel.
- Paramount and Intertainment AG have picked up the action thriller pitch currently tentatively titled A WINDOW TO ATLANTIS from twins Chad and Carey Hayes, who will pen the script. It's about how a young girl's disappearance at sea causes an obsessed father to discover a plot to hide an alien city that could lead to finding his daughter.
- Pandemonium grabbed Scott Lew's pitch SUPER BUTT FREAK for Eagle Cove Entertainment to produce. It centers on a rural judge who closes a teenage dance club because he believes their dancing corrupts the morality of America's youth and how the town's teens rebel in response.
- Walt Disney Co. grabbed the romantic comedy pitch LAST CALL about two escorts from heaven. One is an actress from the 1970s, the other is a con man from the 1940s. They are assigned to pick up a racist shock jock whose time has ran out. They accidentally save his life instead and then try to figure out a way to kill him off while falling in love and changing the guy in the process. Daniel Cohn and Jeremy Miller ("Boston Public") will write the script for Barry Sonnenfeld to direct and Kate Hudson to star as well as produce.
- Catch 23 Entertainment picked up the feature rights to Robert Ferrigno's 1999 noir thriller HEARTBREAKER. Scott Silver will adapt the novel for the big screen. It revolves around an ex-undercover narc who is out for revenge against a drug kingpin who killed his partner. He hides out in L.A. and is caught in the middle of a playboy's murder plot.
- Miramax Films has acquired the feature rights to Joshua Ravetch's play OFF SIDES for Ravetch to adapt. It is a contemporary drama that centers on the battle between academia and athletics.
- Steven Zaillian will write THE RETURN OF SUPERFLY for Imagine/Universal, based on the true story of the Harlem heroin kingpin Frank Lucas. Author Nick Pileggi will likely executive produce.
- Hans Rodionoff will write MAN THING, an original take on the Marvel Comic for Artisan Entertainment, about a swamp creature who feasts off the fears of others.
- Ehren Kruger will adapt THE RING for DreamWorks Pictures, based on the 1998 Japanese blockbuster. It's about a journalist who investigates an urban legend about a cursed videotape which is supposed to kill whoever sees it seven days later. Gore Verbinski may direct.
- New Line Cinema nabbed SOLACE, a spec script by Ted Griffn (OCEAN'S ELEVEN) and Sean Bailey. It follows a psychic detective following a killer in New York who leaves no clues.
- Theresa Duncan will write ALICE UNDERGROUND for Fox Searchlight about two female high school students who kidnap a rock star who becomes more famous when he is missing.
- FilmFour and Good Machine picked up the spec script MONDO BEYONDO by David Guion and Michael Handelman about two hapless guys who survive a nuclear holocaust during their high school reunion and then have to save the planet from an army of killer robots.
- Revolution Studios has purchased IN THE PINK, a pitch by Ryan Shiraki about a Texas playboy who is downsized out of his cushy corporate job. He turns to selling Mary Kay and becomes the top seller in the country.
- Danny Barron and Chris Faber are rewriting SHOTGUN WEDDING for DreamWorks. It's about a cop who tries to solve a big case during the weekend of his wedding.
- Robert Rodat will adapt a script for Columbia Pictures based on Patricia Cornwell's series that features medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, specifically the 1991 book CRUEL & UNUSUAL and 1997's UNNATURAL EXPOSURE. The first book has Scarpetta trying to solve the murder of a 13-year-old after the fingerprints of the man who went to the electric chair for the killing turn up at a new crime scene. The second novel finds the doctor investigating five headless, limbless corpses in Ireland, and four more in Virginia. The bodies may lead to a serial butcher, but they are used to throw investigators off track.
- Producer Lauren Lloyd has set up HAPPILY NEVER AFTER, a comedy by Greg McBride for Disney to produce about the real lives of fairy-tale characters like Cinderella.
- Stuart Beattie will adapt the John Katzenbach novel DR. STARK'S LAST VACATION for Phoenix Pictures.
- Terry George (IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER) will adapt the British miniseries TRUST for Warner Bros. as a starring vehicle for Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is co-producing wither her brother Lyndon Jones and David Foster. The thriller follows a lawyer who defends her psychiatrist husband when he is accused of a murder and discovers he is having an affair with one of his patients.
- James Manos Jr. sold a thriller pitch to Spyglass Entertainment about the real-life "angel of death" case playing out in California's courts. Manos will write the script for the company though no director nor talent is yet attached.
- Mostow/Lieberman picked up an untitled drama pitch from screenwriter Kelly Kennemer about a man whose marriage is falling apart, but he disappears one day and is found weeks later without having any sense of reality or memory. As he heals himself, he patches up his relationship with his wife.
- MDP Worldwide has acquired the epic disaster script FIRESPILL by Matt Oppenheimer. It is based on the novel by Ian Slater and centers on two supertankers that collide in the Pacific near Washington, causing a firestorm that threatens the U.S. and Canadian coastline and the lives of the president's wife and children.
- Victoria Strouse will script a remake of the William Castle horror pic MACABRE for Robert Zemeckis to direct. Joel Silver will produce.
Two weeks' worth of script news here, so I get to have to picks of the week, right? My first is THE RETURN OF SUPERFLY: Steve Zaillian is a great writer and I think he can bring something new to a drug kingpin movie. (Let's hope.) My second is HAPPILY NEVER AFTER because I like the idea, it has lots of potential. I hope hope hope it is funny. If you've read the script, drop me a line. I'd love to hear more about it.
-- Elston Gunn
(Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety)
- Patrick Cirillo (MAN OF WAR) will rewrite THE ALCHEMIST for Alcon Pictures. It's about an ex-CIA agent who is summoned to investigate several terrorist acts perpetrated by high-ranking U.S. military personnel.
- Paramount and Intertainment AG have picked up the action thriller pitch currently tentatively titled A WINDOW TO ATLANTIS from twins Chad and Carey Hayes, who will pen the script. It's about how a young girl's disappearance at sea causes an obsessed father to discover a plot to hide an alien city that could lead to finding his daughter.
- Pandemonium grabbed Scott Lew's pitch SUPER BUTT FREAK for Eagle Cove Entertainment to produce. It centers on a rural judge who closes a teenage dance club because he believes their dancing corrupts the morality of America's youth and how the town's teens rebel in response.
- Walt Disney Co. grabbed the romantic comedy pitch LAST CALL about two escorts from heaven. One is an actress from the 1970s, the other is a con man from the 1940s. They are assigned to pick up a racist shock jock whose time has ran out. They accidentally save his life instead and then try to figure out a way to kill him off while falling in love and changing the guy in the process. Daniel Cohn and Jeremy Miller ("Boston Public") will write the script for Barry Sonnenfeld to direct and Kate Hudson to star as well as produce.
- Catch 23 Entertainment picked up the feature rights to Robert Ferrigno's 1999 noir thriller HEARTBREAKER. Scott Silver will adapt the novel for the big screen. It revolves around an ex-undercover narc who is out for revenge against a drug kingpin who killed his partner. He hides out in L.A. and is caught in the middle of a playboy's murder plot.
- Miramax Films has acquired the feature rights to Joshua Ravetch's play OFF SIDES for Ravetch to adapt. It is a contemporary drama that centers on the battle between academia and athletics.
- Steven Zaillian will write THE RETURN OF SUPERFLY for Imagine/Universal, based on the true story of the Harlem heroin kingpin Frank Lucas. Author Nick Pileggi will likely executive produce.
- Hans Rodionoff will write MAN THING, an original take on the Marvel Comic for Artisan Entertainment, about a swamp creature who feasts off the fears of others.
- Ehren Kruger will adapt THE RING for DreamWorks Pictures, based on the 1998 Japanese blockbuster. It's about a journalist who investigates an urban legend about a cursed videotape which is supposed to kill whoever sees it seven days later. Gore Verbinski may direct.
- New Line Cinema nabbed SOLACE, a spec script by Ted Griffn (OCEAN'S ELEVEN) and Sean Bailey. It follows a psychic detective following a killer in New York who leaves no clues.
- Theresa Duncan will write ALICE UNDERGROUND for Fox Searchlight about two female high school students who kidnap a rock star who becomes more famous when he is missing.
- FilmFour and Good Machine picked up the spec script MONDO BEYONDO by David Guion and Michael Handelman about two hapless guys who survive a nuclear holocaust during their high school reunion and then have to save the planet from an army of killer robots.
- Revolution Studios has purchased IN THE PINK, a pitch by Ryan Shiraki about a Texas playboy who is downsized out of his cushy corporate job. He turns to selling Mary Kay and becomes the top seller in the country.
- Danny Barron and Chris Faber are rewriting SHOTGUN WEDDING for DreamWorks. It's about a cop who tries to solve a big case during the weekend of his wedding.
- Robert Rodat will adapt a script for Columbia Pictures based on Patricia Cornwell's series that features medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, specifically the 1991 book CRUEL & UNUSUAL and 1997's UNNATURAL EXPOSURE. The first book has Scarpetta trying to solve the murder of a 13-year-old after the fingerprints of the man who went to the electric chair for the killing turn up at a new crime scene. The second novel finds the doctor investigating five headless, limbless corpses in Ireland, and four more in Virginia. The bodies may lead to a serial butcher, but they are used to throw investigators off track.
- Producer Lauren Lloyd has set up HAPPILY NEVER AFTER, a comedy by Greg McBride for Disney to produce about the real lives of fairy-tale characters like Cinderella.
- Stuart Beattie will adapt the John Katzenbach novel DR. STARK'S LAST VACATION for Phoenix Pictures.
- Terry George (IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER) will adapt the British miniseries TRUST for Warner Bros. as a starring vehicle for Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is co-producing wither her brother Lyndon Jones and David Foster. The thriller follows a lawyer who defends her psychiatrist husband when he is accused of a murder and discovers he is having an affair with one of his patients.
- James Manos Jr. sold a thriller pitch to Spyglass Entertainment about the real-life "angel of death" case playing out in California's courts. Manos will write the script for the company though no director nor talent is yet attached.
- Mostow/Lieberman picked up an untitled drama pitch from screenwriter Kelly Kennemer about a man whose marriage is falling apart, but he disappears one day and is found weeks later without having any sense of reality or memory. As he heals himself, he patches up his relationship with his wife.
- MDP Worldwide has acquired the epic disaster script FIRESPILL by Matt Oppenheimer. It is based on the novel by Ian Slater and centers on two supertankers that collide in the Pacific near Washington, causing a firestorm that threatens the U.S. and Canadian coastline and the lives of the president's wife and children.
- Victoria Strouse will script a remake of the William Castle horror pic MACABRE for Robert Zemeckis to direct. Joel Silver will produce.
Two weeks' worth of script news here, so I get to have to picks of the week, right? My first is THE RETURN OF SUPERFLY: Steve Zaillian is a great writer and I think he can bring something new to a drug kingpin movie. (Let's hope.) My second is HAPPILY NEVER AFTER because I like the idea, it has lots of potential. I hope hope hope it is funny. If you've read the script, drop me a line. I'd love to hear more about it.
-- Elston Gunn
(Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety)
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