This week: The NYPD Mafia cop scandal moves closer to the screen, author Dennis Lehane blesses a young screenwriter, and a fearless journalist dabbles in Hollywood.
Hollywood's interest in the two NYPD cops charged with moonlighting as Mafia hit men (see Hollywood Reader, Mar. 21) erupted into an all-out feeding frenzy last week, with multiple projects crossing studio execs' desks. Universal reportedly moved first, with its option of Louis Eppolito's Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop Whose Family Was the Mob (S&S, 1992), a memoir by one of the arrested officers. Mandalay Entertainment will produce. Warner Bros. quickly followed by snapping up the life rights toTommy Dades, one of the detectives who blew open the case. While the Universal deal struck many as—to put it charitably—counterintuitive ("Isn't there a slight credibility problem?" one asked), Mandalay presumably knows what it's doing. The company is responsible for 1997's Oscar-nominated FBI-and-Mafia-fest, Donnie Brasco, based on the book by Joseph Pistone and Richard Woodley (NAL, 1990).
Of course, this isn't the first time two studios will be going head-to-head in a race to the screen. Moviegoers survived dueling volcano flicks (Volcano and Dante's Peak), asteroid epics (Deep Impact and Armageddon) and even two biopics about an obscure runner (Without Limits and Prefontaine). Others might jump into the fray: CAA's Jill Cutler and Bob Bookman are out with a five-page proposal by noted journalist Howard Blum. Paradigm's Lucy Stille represents Jimmy Breslin for film rights to his newly signed Blood Ties (see Hot Deals, p. 14).
AfterMystic Riverpiled up Oscar nominations for almost everyone but the key grip, author Dennis Lehane raised the bar for filmmakers interested in his work. (A-list director Wolfgang Peterson is attached to his most recent novel, Shutter Island [Morrow, 2003]). So it's a real vote of confidence that the author entrusted his short story "Until Gwen" to an up-and-coming screenwriter named Josh Olson. Olson's biggest project to date, the David Cronenberg—directed A History ofViolence, recently wrapped. With his own money, Olson optioned "Until Gwen," a father/son reunion tale that (in typical Lehane fashion) takes an abrupt dark turn, and is adapting it for the screen now. Lehane is repped by Ann Rittenberg of the Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency. The Gersh Agency's Amy Schiffman negotiated the film deal.
What's more impressive? A 134-pound "writer-type" who goes to the mat with a 450-pound sumo wrestler (and survives) or an unknown magazine staff writer who asks one of the biggest producers in the business for a producer credit (and gets it)? Both describe 30-year-old Joshua Davis, who's just notched his second film deal (and second credit) for his April 2005 Wiredarticle "La Vida Robot: How Four Underdogs from the Mean Streets of Phoenix Took on the Best from M.I.T. in the National Underwater Bot Championship." Warner Bros. optioned the article for mega-producer John Wells (E.R.; The West Wing). Hollywood is more likely to dole out a producer credit to a star's nutritionist than to a mere journalist, but Davis's agent Bonnie Nadell said her client's unique p.o.v. made it a no-brainer. (The multiple offers didn't hurt, either.) Villard will publish Davis's first book, The Underdog (which contains said sumo match) in September. CAA's Shari Smiley did the film deal.
e-mail: HollywoodReader@earthlink.net
