Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures is negotiating to acquire an untitled satire that will re-team screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, the tandem behind the mind-benders Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. The project was pitched recently to financiers, and I’m told it’s a satire about how world leaders gather to figure out all the seismic events that will take place in the worlds, from oil prices to wars that will be waged. Ellison, the daughter of Oracle founder Larry Ellison and sister of Paramount-based financier-producer David Ellison, has become an active buyer of tastemaker film projects that include The Wettest County in the World and Cogan’s Trade, as well as one of the projects mobilizing on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. She bought the Wong Kar-Wai-directed martial arts pic Grandmasters, and was an executive producer on the Joel and Ethan Coen-directed True Grit, which became a Best Picture Oscar nominee.

It’s not the only Kaufman project in the mix. I’m told he’s looking to direct his script Frank Or Francis. The film chronicles a volatile back and forth between a film director (Frank) and an online blogger (Francis), who takes delight in berating his cinematic talent. The project’s at Sony Pictures for the moment, and names like Adaptation’s Meryl Streep being talked about for roles.

Jonze and Ellison are repped by CAA, Kaufman by WME.