Originally published in German, the English-language translation was one of the hottest titles at last month’s London Book Fair, where it generated keen film interest from Hollywood producers. TriStar's Nicole Brown brought the project into the Sony fold, and Elizabeth Cantillon and Josh Bratman have teamed up to produce.
(THR)
The co-writers of the 2009 flick
Middle Men will pen
The Bummy Davis Story, an independent feature which New York City real estate developer Peter Fine will produce and finance. Fine came to the project after reading Ron Ross’ novel about the legendary boxer,
Bummy Davis Vs. Murder Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Mafia and an Ill-Fated Prizefighter. Story of the Jewish boxer takes place in the 1930s and ‘40s in Brownsville, New York.
(DH)
Phil Lord and Chris Miller hi the big time with
Cloudy With a Chance Of Meatballs and then
21 Jump Street and
The Last Man On Earth, and now their latest project is
Son of Zahn, a live-action/animation hybrid that they plan on shooting for Fox. The pilot presentation will focus on an animated barbarian dad who returns home to his live-action wife and son after having been away waging war for the last ten years.
(COL)
The horror specialist will direct and produce a biopic about the final years of iconic comedian Groucho Marx’s life along with Cold Iron Pictures’ Miranda Bailey, Amanda Marshall and Andy Gould. The project is based on Steve Stoliar’s 1996 book
Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho’s House, written about Stoliar’s three years as Marx’s personal secretary at the actor’s Beverly Hills home before Marx died in 1977.
(VAR)
The pair have been working on the project for some time, but it took a backseat to the Oscar Isaac miniseries
Show Me a Hero, which Simon created. Now that the miniseries is close to completion, the network is looking into reinvigorating this project. If the series has enough staying power, it'll climax with a penetrating depiction of the Times Square scene's early '80s battles with AIDS, cocaine, and rising real-estate costs.
(VUL)
Working off a script from Ethan Furman, the project will follow the novel’s erstwhile protagonist Hank Chinaski as he attempts to manage the many women who fall in love with him through his writings. Bukowski, who passed away in 1994 in Los Angeles, based the character of Chinaski on his own life.
(TB)
Star Vin Diesel announced the news via his Facebook page, saying, “So the studio apparently is so excited by
The Last Witch Hunter – The Axe and Cross franchise… that they are already commencing on the next one. The first one doesn’t hit theaters until October 23rd, yet they want me to commit and already block out time to film it.” Rose Leslie, Michael Caine, Elijah Wood and Julie Engelbrecht also star in the film, directed by Breck Eisner.
(EMP)
New comedy series, called
The Ranch, is nearing a series order from the streaming service. It comes from co-creators Don Reo and Jim Patterson (who were co-showrunners on
Two and a Half Men) and will star Kutcher and Masterson in the lead roles. Set on a Colorado ranch, show will follow a retired semi-pro football player who returns home to run the family business with his brother. Netflix is considering a 20-episode order to be released in two 10-episode chunks.
(TVI)
FX has released the first teaser trailer for the second season of the Emmy-winning crime anthology series. The new season stars Patrick Wilson, Ted Danson, Michael Hogan, Jean Smart, Jeffrey Donovan, Angus Sampson, Kieran Culkin, Brad Garrett, Bokeem Woodbine, Cristin Milioti, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman and Bruce Campbell, and premieres in September.
(SF)
When a script has two separate mentors, it is usually done to personify the two aspects of learning how to complete the outer journey: mission and mindset. That is always at the core of differentiating them. The dual mentor approach makes the most sense when divvied up into one false and one true mentor. Now, just because one of the two mentors is false, that does not make him or her a bad person; it just means they’re wrong.
(SM)