TUESDAY JULY 28, 2009 « Film News Briefs

July 28, 2009

TUESDAY JULY 28, 2009

PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

Spike Jonze has acquired feature rights to Shane Jones’ debut novel “Light Boxes” with Ray Tintori attached to direct. “Light Boxes,” published earlier this year by Genius Press, is centered on a mysterious town that endures a deadly 1,000-day winter.

Jon Hamm and Rebecca Hall will star with Ben Affleck in “The Town,” the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures adaptation of the Chuck Hogan novel. Affleck is directing, and playing a bank robber who becomes smitten with the teller of a bank he held up. She makes him want to go straight, but she is also the FBI’s golden ticket to catching Boston’s most wanted bank robber. Hamm plays the FBI agent who also becomes infatuated with the bank employee, played by Hall. Graham King is producing through his GK Films banner. Affleck rewrote the draft by Peter Craig and Hogan.

Alcon Entertainment has bought Aaron Guzikowski’s spec “The Prisoners” and is fast-tracking the kidnap thriller for a fall 2010 release by Warner Bros. The story centers on a small-town carpenter whose young daughter and best friend are kidnapped. After the cops fail to find them, the man turns vigilante and starts an investigation of his own. Alcon, which paid mid-six against low-seven figures, will finance and co-produce with 8:38 Prods. and Madhouse Entertainment.

Joe Morton, Daniella Alonso and John Fiore are starring in “The Mulberry Tree,” an indie feature directed by U.K. helmer Mark Heller. Louis Crugnali wrote the script and also stars in the drama about a Italian-American family based on his experiences growing up near Providence, R.I., and working in the state corrections system. The script chronicles the meeting of Mickey Crugnali and Sam Morton, a convicted murderer dying of AIDS whose remaining days on “hospital detail” give him the opportunity for redemption through conversations with the young man about his own family issues.

PROJECT UPDATES

Richard LaGravenese is attached to write and direct the love story “Man and Wife” for Universal Pictures. Drama centers around an immigrant’s love for the U.S. Pic will be produced by Double Feature partners Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher.

“How I Met Your Mother” star Josh Radnor has made his feature directing debut on “HappyThankYouMorePlease.” Radnor wrote the script and starred in the comedy alongside Malin Akerman, Kate Mara, Richard Jenkins, Zoe Kazan, Pablo Schreiber and Tony Hale. The comedy follows the lives and loves of six New Yorkers not quite ready to embrace adulthood. The pic was produced by Tom Sawyer Entertainment’s Jesse Hara and Paper Street Films’ Benji Kohn, Austin Stark and Chris Papavasiliou.

Ron Livingston, Jim Gaffigan, Kelli Gellar, Rob Riggle and Jason Sudeikis round out the cast of New Line’s romantic comedy “Going the Distance,” starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. Pic, directed by Nanette Burstein, is being produced by Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot via their Offspring Entertainment shingle. It began shooting two weeks ago.

BUSINESS NEWS

ABC Family has given an additional first-season order to its new drama “Make It or Break It.” The cabler announced Monday it picked up another 10 episodes of the series, bringing the first-season run to 20 segs all together. New episodes will return in early 2010; “Make It” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. Holly Sorensen created the show and exec produces with Paul Stupin. The show, set in the world of competitive gymnastics, revolves around teen Olympic hopefuls.

ESPN and the National Football League have expanded their relationship to include feature films. ESPN’s Films-Motion Pictures division has joined NFL Films and Andell Entertainment as producers of “Lombardi,” about Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The sports network’s film arm has overhauled the script. The goal is to release the picture the weekend before the 2011 Super Bowl, 40 years after the NFL named the Super Bowl trophy after Lombardi.

Richard Linklater (“School of Rock”) is nearing a deal to direct “Liars (A-E)” for Scott Rudin and Miramax. Project, penned by Emma Forrest, is a romantic comedy about a woman who, on the way to President Obama’s inauguration, retrieves lost items from her ex-boyfriends. Kat Dennings is set to play the woman’s pal.

INDUSTRY MOVES

From the moment he took the top programming gig at NBC, Ben Silverman had been plotting his next move. And from that same moment, Hollywood execs had been waiting for it. It all came to fruition on Monday, when NBC named Jeff Gaspin chairman of NBC Universal TV Entertainment – and Barry Diller’s IAC announced that it’s partnering with Silverman on a production venture. In a town that often dishes out shocking exits or unexpected pairings, Monday’s dual announcements from NBC and IAC were neither.

Ben Silverman’s decision to set up shop with a production venture at Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp is an echo of the move Silverman made 10 years ago, when he exited WMA to set up his Reveille shingle with backing from Diller’s USA Networks. This time around, however, Silverman is promising a new entity that, compared to Reveille, is “probably a 10- to 15-fold size company in terms of what we’ll build and launch. Details about the company were sparse Monday, but the venture will be co-owned by IAC and Silverman, with IAC holding the majority interest. It’s possible other investors may come onboard, which means the company’s earnings will not be consolidated with IAC’s financial reporting. Among the potential investors is NBC Universal, IAC said in announcing the as-yet-unnamed company.

TECHNOLOGY/MULTI-PLATFORM CONTENT

Candor Entertainment will join Shariff Hasan Productions to help produce “Skinny Jeans: the Movement” an original web series based on the rise of The Jerk Movement featuring the hip-hop group “The New Boyz.” Candor will produce 20 episodes that will play across the Web on different distributions sites including Hulu. Each episode will highlight the music, fashion and dancing associated with The Jerk movement.

WEBSITE TO WATCH

http://www.heyrude.com/

TV producer Melissa Friedman and stand-up comedian Helene Gresser built this collaborative blog last month to document and vent about all the things in daily New York life that get their blood up. Made up of video postings, photos, letters and such, it strikes a wonderful balance between sardonic and whining and should be required reading for many in the city. We especially love the recent video post illustrating how NOT to crowd onto the subway before folks get off. For the record, we tend to be that person doing “What You WANT To Do …” at the end of the piece, and we’re not going to apologize for it.