THURSDAY APRIL 9, 2009 « Film News Briefs

April 8, 2009

THURSDAY APRIL 9, 2009

PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

Virginia Madsen is teaming with Empire 8 Prods. and Vancouver-based Screen Siren on “Fighting Gravity,” a documentary about women ski jumpers’ ongoing battle for the right to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Film, which is currently in production, follows 15 athletes challenging the Intl. Olympic Committee’s decision to bar them from the upcoming Games in Vancouver. The IOC has rejected a decade-long effort to include women jumpers in the Games, making ski jumping the only Olympic sport exclusively for men. The case is currently making its way through the Canadian court system. Madsen and Karly Meola are producing through their Title IX Prods. shingle, which was launched last year.

PROJECT UPDATES

Andy Fickman has set the Walt Disney Pictures comedy “You Again” as his next directing project. Fickman, who most recently directed “Race to Witch Mountain,” is casting the female-driven comedy and will begin production in Los Angeles in late summer.

The new Freddy Krueger has his first male victim to terrorize. Kyle Gallner is moving from “The Haunting in Connecticut” to “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” New Line and Platinum Dune’s reboot of the long-running horror franchise. Gallner will play Quentin, one of the lead teens in the pic, which stars Jackie Earle Haley (“Watchmen”) as iconic scaremaster Freddy Krueger. Samuel Bayer helms the redo from Wesley Strick’s script.

Ralph Fiennes is in advanced negotiations to star as Hades, the lord of the underworld, in helmer Louis Leterrier’s “Clash of the Titans” for Warner Bros. Fiennes would join the already announced Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Alexa Davalos and Sam Worthington in the reimagining of the Greek myth of Perseus. Liam Neeson had been set to play Zeus, but his involvement is uncertain following the death of wife Natasha Richardson last month. Fiennes is also in talks to star in 1970s-set coming-of-age laffer “The Men at the Pru,” which Ricky Gervais is co-writing and directing with Stephen Merchant. That project is set at Sony, where it will be the studio’s second U.K. production greenlit by international motion picture division prexy Deb Schindler.

David O. Russell has signed on to direct the romantic comedy “Aaron and Sarah” for Fox 2000. “Milk” producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen have come on to produce. Story centers on a nerdy guy and a popular girl who meet as freshmen and, over four years of high school, four proms and one funeral, become friends and eventually fall in love. Husband-wife team Chad Gomez Creasey and Dara Resnik Creasey penned the screenplay.

Brittany Murphy and David Zayas have joined the all-star cast of “The Expendables,” Sylvester Stallone’s actioner being produced by Nu Image/Millennium Films. The pic — which counts Stallone, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture among its cast — follows a team of mercenaries who head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator. Murphy will play Rourke’s girlfriend, a singer. The part calls for her to perform a musical number. Zayas will play the dictator.

Kent Alterman, director of the Will Ferrell basketball comedy “Semi-Pro,” is attached to direct and develop “Treehouse Gang,” the grown-up adventure tale from Warner Bros. and Heyday Films. The project is based on Timothy Dowling’s spec, which centers on a group of six childhood friends who get together in their late twenties for a treasure hunt that echoes the hunts of their youth, in the process exploring longtime friendships and grudges. Those familiar with the project have described it as a grown-up version of “The Goonies.”

ACQUISITIONS/FESTIVAL NEWS

The 14^th Annual Gen Art Film Festival presented by Acura wrapped an exciting week with the U.S. Premiere of “Finding Bliss,” directed by alum Julie Davis and starring Leelee Sobieski, Matthew Davis, Donnamarie Recco, Denise Richards, Kristen Johnston and Jamie Kennedy, and a ceremony announcing the winners of the Acura Grand Jury Awards, Stargazer Award and Festival’s Audience Awards. During the past week, the Gen Art Film Festival presented by Acura showcased seven features and seven shorts from emerging filmmakers, each followed by seven parties at New York City’s hottest venues, including 1 OAK, Greenhouse, The Park, and Hudson Terrace. The cutting-edge festival allowed film buffs to experience a premiere like a true insider with interactive elements allowing filmmakers, media and the audience to share in the excitement.

BUSINESS NEWS

In what can only be considered good news, a decision on whether to move up the start times for this year’s World Series will likely be made by July’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game. That’s the word from insiders, who confirmed that Fox Sports and the MLB are hammering out plans to move World Series first pitches up by at least half an hour. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, first pitch in all Series games may come as soon as 7:50 p.m. ET – or 4:50 p.m. PT. (Coverage traditionally starts at 8 p.m., with first pitch between 20 and 40 minutes later.) Although that may upset some viewers on the West Coast, the move would come in response to ongoing criticism that the games start too late, and then sometimes last well beyond midnight, on the East Coast.

ABC’s summer lineup includes a dating show on which contestants can’t see each other, Mike Judge’s new animated comedy and the return of three canceled dramas. The network will kick off its summer schedule next month, taking advantage of in-season momentum to launch “The Bachelorette” — set to bow at 9 p.m. Monday, May 18, before moving to its regular 8 p.m. period — featuring the previous cycle’s Jillian Harris. It will be followed by the second season of “Here Come the Newlyweds,” which will air at 10 p.m. Mondays starting May 25. The network will replace “Newlyweds” in that slot July 20 with the new “Dating in the Dark,” on which couples date without seeing each other. Also new to ABC is “The Superstars,” a six-episode physical-competition series pitting athletes from various sports in events including swimming, biking, running and kayaking. The show is set to bow at 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 23. Last summer’s breakout hit, “Wipeout,” returns at 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 27, which will lead into Judge’s 9 p.m. animated comedy “The Goode Family,” about a politically incorrect clan. Finally, ABC will finish off its former Wednesday lineup at 10 p.m. on summer Saturdays, airing remaining episodes of “Pushing Daisies,” “Eli Stone” and “Dirty Sexy Money.” “Daisies” returns to the schedule May 30-June 13, “Stone” from June 20-July 11 and “Money” from July 18-Aug. 8.

Longtime pals Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci are getting into the TV biz with Lionsgate. The veteran indie film and TV stars, who have known each other for 20 years, have sealed a first-look TV deal with Lionsgate for their new shingle, Olive Prods. Under the pact, Olive — which they run alongside fellow producer Wren Arthur — will develop and produce scripted fare for both broadcast and cable nets.

INDUSTRY MOVES

Turner Entertainment Networks has upped Sam Linsky to senior VP of current programming for TNT and TBS. The Los Angeles-based Linsky will continue to oversee established series including “The Closer,” “Saving Grace” and “Raising the Bar.”

While the heated merger rumors between William Morris and Endeavor cooled slightly during the week, news broke Wednesday about the formation of a venture that would put Endeavor chief Ari Emanuel at the center of an enterprise to advise companies on raising coin for media ventures. The boutique company involves Endeavor partnering with Joe Ravitch, who’s leaving after 16 years at Goldman Sachs, and former UBS Warburg vet Jeff Sine. The story broke on Deadline Hollywood Daily. The potential troika had been rumored for weeks, but Endeavor would not confirm those talks to the media outlets that chased the rumor.

WEBSITE TO WATCH

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