Search Results for: “salinger ”

Hammond On Cannes: Weinstein Brings Out Stars For 2013 Oscar Contenders

By PETE HAMMOND | Friday May 17, 2013 @ 1:30pm PDTTags: August: Osage County, Cannes Film Festival, Grace Of Monaco, Harvey Weinstein, Nicole Kidman, The Weinstein Company
Pete Hammond

Following a relatively new tradition they started a few years ago, The Weinstein Company on Friday night brought together a group of buyers, partners and press to preview its 2013 slate and meet filmmakers and stars. Although Harvey Weinstein never once mentioned the word “Oscar”, you can tell that’s definitely what he is thinking with a diverse mix of prestige projects that should give the awards-happy company lots of campaign fodder for 2013. He said after a rocky start the company has had a very good last four years and for 2012 made more than they ever did at Miramax. He also made a plea to the international audience gathered for the presentation at the Majestic Hotel for the continued independence of European filmmaking, especially in light of problems with the European Cultural Initiative. “We can’t let Europe be the same like the United States. What’s great about European movies is they are different and as long as they reflect their culture there will always be special movies like Amour, which we didn’t release last year, and so many movies like that. So keep your eye on the newspaper when this stuff comes up for votes or things we can do to influence it,  I think it’s very important,” he said.

Related: Cannes: Weinstein Eyes ‘Philomena’ In First Big Bidding Battle Of Festival

After the 40-minute reel led by the August 16th release The Butler and ending with the long-gestating Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, Weinstein told me, “It’s a very eclectic, hard-hitting lineup that I am really proud of. What am I going to say? I feel very confident about this year”. Though he may not have been directly making an Oscar-season pitch (thankfully that’s still many months off even for Harvey — well, maybe not), he did make an overt plea for his official competition entries Only God Forgives and The Immigrant when introducing Cannes jury member Nicole Kidman, star of the December 27th release Grace Of Monaco. “We have a member of the jury with us tonight and she has to go for a jury meeting to hopefully decide which movie of mine wins the Palme d’Or. I have certainly given Steven (jury president Spielberg) enough money over the years,” he said to big laughs. Read More »

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Cannes: Viva & Uncork’d Take U.S. On Malin Ackerman Pic ‘Cottage Country’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday May 17, 2013 @ 12:35pm PDTTags: Cottage Country, Malin Akerman, Uncork'd Entertainment, Viva Pictures

Cottage Country is a dark comedy starring Malin Akerman, Tyler Labine, Daniel Petronijevic and Lucy Punch and directed by Peter Wellington. Victor Elizalde of indie Viva Pictures and Uncork’d Entertainment’s Keith Leopard said today they have acquired U.S. theatrical, VOD, home vid and digital rights while in Cannes. The story centers on Todd (Labine), who wants everything to be just perfect at the family cottage where he plans to propose to Cammie (Akerman). But things go awry with the arrival of Todd’s slacker brother Salinger (Petronijevic) and his free-spirited girlfriend Masha (Punch). When Todd accidentally dispatches his irksome sibling with an axe, Cammie is determined not to let murder stand in the way of their happiness. Read More »

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Cannes: Weinstein Company Eyes Judi Dench Pic ‘Philomena’ In First Big Bidding Battle Of Festival

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 1:16pm PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Philomena, The Weinstein Company
Mike Fleming

Cannes buyers had plenty of screenings to choose from today but the hottest movie on the Croisette right now is Philomena — or at least the seven minutes that were shown to buyers this morning. This is the Stephen Frears-directed movie that stars Judi Dench and Steve Coogan and is the true story of an Irish woman who searches for the illegitimate son she gave up for adoption in the U.S. I am hearing that The Weinstein Company is in exclusive negotiations for the pic for U.S., Canada and Spain distribution rights, this after Focus Features stepped out of the bidding. The wild part: the bidding is based on a morning screening of partial footage to domestic buyers, and the action is currently at $6.5 million for a film said to cost around $18 million. That is a shockingly high number for a teaser reel, but everyone I spoke to who saw it was knocked out. The pic is being sold directly by Pathe’s Muriel Sauzay, and a deal could make this evening even as everybody heads off to movies and dinner parties. Read More »

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Cannes Kick-Off: ‘Gatsby’ Glitz, ‘Catching Fire’ Heat, Festival Jury’s Spielberg Meal

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday, 15 May 2013 13:25 UKTags: Cannes Film Festival, The Great Gatsby, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

CANNES: Hollywood excess hasn’t disappeared entirely from the 66th Festival De Cannes. But it will be limited to a few studios. Warner Bros is bringing Baz Luhrmann’s lush The Great Gatsby to town for opening night and a gala event. Lionsgate is organizing a beach blowout to promote Catching Fire even though it doesn’t release until November. Fox is making a big deal of the 50th anniversary of Cleopatra, partnering with Bulgari jewelers for a reception displaying pieces from Elizabeth Taylor’s personal collection after a screening of the movie’s new restoration. Even the Cannes jury met for the first time last night, rather fittingly, for dinner at the Palme d’Or restaurant in the Martinez Hotel where the chef prepared a meal inspired by jury president Steven Spielberg’s films. And of course, billionaire Paul Allen’s yacht is expected to turn up in the bay with his annual super-exclusive party falling on May 20. But it’s not all champagne and bikinis on the boats. One exec who’s on a monster yacht each year at Cannes tells me it’s a cost-efficient way to do business rather than just a showy splurge. And even though some Cannes parties can cost $3 million, Warner Bros opened its wallets.

Related: Fleming On Cannes: Can Sizzle Reels Make Sizzling Deals This Year?

One executive calls it ”a victory lap” for The Great Gatsby after grossing way above expectations in North America. Now the studio wants to generate buzz internationally for the film adaptation of this most American of novels. No problem, because the rules state a movie can be released in its own country and still have its international premiere at Cannes. So Warner Bros is using this glitzy platform to open in 49 territories on the weekend including France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia and Korea.

The full cast and filmmakers will attend tonight including Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Debicki, Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, producers Lucy Fisher and Doug Wick, and several studio bigwigs led by Warner Bros Pictures chief Jeff Robinov. In 2001 Luhrmann opened the festival with Fox’s Moulin Rouge and one of the most memorable soirées, replete with Can Can girls, trapeze artists and Fat Boy Slim as deejay. The Gatsby after-party will evoke the Roaring 20s with help from partners Samsung, Tiffany, Moët, Brook Brothers and Chivas. There’s a gargantuan structure the size of an airplane hangar set up on a jetty across the port from the Palais where locals are already lining up for the screening Wednesday night. On Thursday night, the Gatsby party structure will be home to a soirée for about 800 locals. This isn’t an official festival event; rather it’s organized by the town each year and Warner Bros agreed to leave up the Gatsby décor for it.

Related: Hammond On Cannes: Festival Kicks Off With Most Anticipated Slate In Years Read More »

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Shane Salerno’s JD Salinger Biography Eyes Global Windfall

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday April 18, 2013 @ 12:24pm PDTTags: JD Salinger, Salinger, Shane Salerno, Simon & Schuster
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: It took Shane Salerno eight years and $2 million of his own cash to make his JD Salinger documentary and book. It’s paid off quickly: The Weinstein Company landed worldwide rights to the movie and will release it during Oscar season September 6, it will air on PBS’ American Masters in 2014, and Simon & Schuster scooped up the 700-page Salinger biography from Salerno and David Shields. All three deals were for seven figures, making it one of the richest-ever pacts for a feature docu. Now comes foreign book sales: I’m hearing the London Book Fair is hot over The Private War Of J.D. Salinger, which is not a companion to the movie but an oral biography featuring more than 100 never-before-seen photos and material not found in the two-hour film. Multiple six-figure advances are on the table in London, I’m told, and Simon & Schuster has already concluded at least one major overseas rights deal for the UK and Commonwealth — with Simon & Schuster UK — before rivals even arrived at the sales confab. The plan is to publish the book in the UK simultaneously with its September release in the U.S. Salerno will speak directly with other foreign publishers next week, and other deals could come from magazine serialization as well as a secondary push following the film’s big- and small-screen debuts. Overall, it’s possible global sales could reach into the several … Read More »

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Cannes: Weinsteins’ ‘Grace Of Monaco’ To Screen Footage; Whither The Studios?

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Saturday, 13 April 2013 01:30 UKTags: Cannes Film Festival, Grace Of Monaco, The Weinstein Co

We’re six days from definitively learning the Cannes Film Festival lineup while hopefuls await a call from fest chief Thierry Frémaux in the hours just preceding Thursday’s announcement. Of the high-profile possibilities, we reported last month that Nicole Kidman-starrer Grace Of Monaco would not be ready, and while that intel remains correct, I’m now hearing that footage from the film will turn up on the Croisette. It’s possible it could be part of an officially sanctioned event, but I understand that has yet to be determined.

By Hollywood standards, if that Weinstein Co. footage were to be an official part of the proceedings, it could be one of the most high-profile parts of the selection since the major studios are largely sitting this one out. With the exception of Warner Bros., whose Baz Luhrmann-directed The Great Gatsby is opening the festival, I’m hearing that either the timing has not aligned or that upcoming studio films don’t jive with Cannes as a platform. “It’s a great place if you have something to promote… But it’s expensive, so it has to be the right thing for the movie,” one insider tells me. Estimates put the cost of an official red carpet Cannes screening and fête at up to $3M and beyond.

Cannes is still considered by Hollywood to be a useful marketing tool, but could it be that’s becoming truer outside of the official selection? Witness TWC, which last year rented a plush room in the Majestic Hotel to screen about 20 minutes of footage from three of its fall films – Django Unchained, Silver Linings Playbook and The Master. The move turned out to be a prescient means to whet the appetite for pictures that TWC was confident would be awards contenders later in the year. If the company repeats that select screening effort – which I understand it might do in a much bigger way – the top picks for this year look to be Salinger, the Shane Salerno feature doc about the Catcher In The Rye author; August: Osage County, John Wells’ Meryl Streep/Julia Roberts-starrer; One Chance, David Frankel’s pic about Britain’s Got Talent’s first winner Paul Potts; Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, the biopic starring Idris Elba, and Lee Daniels’ The Butler.

The above formula proved fruitful for TWC last year in a non-official capacity. However, for the U.S. majors, appearing in official selection is viable to launch Europe, but doesn’t mean much domestically, I’m told by someone who’s been down the road before. Another believes that to merit the whole red carpet pomp & circumstance “it has to be the right movie for the right audience because all eyes are on you. It is not the right place to toe dip… If you’re not going to deliver above expectations, why put yourself in the position?” Even DreamWorks Animation, long termed by Frémaux as a “friend of the festival” and which usually bows a movie in Cannes, won’t be there this year, I understand. Its upcoming Turbo rolls out in Europe in the fall. Typically, high-profile movies that open in Cannes are released theatrically quite quickly after the festival or are films that benefit from a very long lead critical campaign. Read More »

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TOLDJA! The Weinstein Company Finds Oscar Candidate In ‘Grace Of Monaco’; December 27 Limited Release Set

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday March 25, 2013 @ 8:37am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Grace Kelly, Grace Of Monaco, Nicole Kidman, The Weinstein Company
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: The Weinstein Company has confirmed the scoop Deadline Hollywood broke on Oscar morning, that while most people were getting dressed for the Oscars, Harvey Weinstein was wrapping up one of two deals that could give him Oscar contenders for the next race, sewing up distribution rights to Grace Of Monaco. Later, Deadline reported Weinstein closed a deal for the Shane Salerno-directed Salinger, after getting an exclusive first look at that docu on J.D. Salinger the same weekend his team closed the Grace Of Monaco deal. TWC has set a December 27 limited release for Grace Of Monaco, and Salinger will be released September 6. 

I reported that TWC wrapped up a deal to acquire domestic rights to Grace Of Monaco, the Olivier Dahan-directed drama that stars Nicole Kidman as actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly, and Tim Roth as Monaco’s Prince Rainier III. I’m hearing that TWC has made a big bet, paying a $5 million minimum guarantee and a P&A commitment around $10 million for a minimum 800-screen run. CAA shopped domestic rights and established the film as a hot buzz title by showing sizzle reel footage at Berlin. TWC’s Weinstein and David Glasser made the deal Friday night here in Hollywood with CAA on behalf of Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, who produced the film with Uday Chopra and Arash Amel. Amel wrote the script. Here is the official announcement: Read More »

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TOLDJA! Weinstein Company Confirms Worldwide Rights Deal For Shane Salerno Docu ‘Salinger;’ Sets September 6 Release

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday March 21, 2013 @ 1:52pm PDTTags: Harvey Weinstein, Salinger, Shane Salerno, The Weinstein Company
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: The Weinstein Company finally confirmed what Deadline told you exclusively on February 27: that the studio acquired theatrical rights to Salinger, the Shane Salerno-directed feature documentary on JD Salinger, the reclusive author of The Catcher In The Rye. TWC has set a September 6 theatrical release for the film. As Deadline reported, the deal is seven figures, around $2 million, and covers world rights except for the previous deal that licensed U.S. television rights to PBS’ American Masters. This was one of the most unusual deals in awhile, and came after Harvey Weinstein, David Glasser and the acquisition team were shown the film on the morning of the Academy Awards.

Related:
J.D. Salinger Documentary Acquired By Harvey Weinstein
Secret J.D. Salinger Documentary & Book Revealed

TWC was the only distributor that saw the finished film, and closed the deal right after. Salerno and his lawyer Robert Offer made three big deals for the movie, showing it only to parties that made deals, which allowed the filmmaker to avoid any leakage of revelations in the film that might have resulted with a screening for multiple buyers. It was first shown to American Masters, which quickly closed a 7-figure licensing deal to make it the 200th installment of that prestigious series early next year. It was then shown to Jon Karp and his editors from Simon & Schuster, and right after they saw it, they closed a 7-figure publishing deal for a biography that Salerno wrote with David Shields. So the movie has played three times, and resulted in deals north of $5 million, making it one of the richest pacts ever for a feature documentary. It took Salerno eight years and $2 million of his own money to make the movie and the book happen. Here is the official release from TWC: Read More »

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J.D. Salinger Documentary Acquired By Harvey Weinstein

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday February 27, 2013 @ 3:15pm PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Harvey Weinstein, J.D. Salinger, Salinger, Shane Salerno, The Weinstein Company
Mike Fleming

Salinger Documentary Harvey WeinsteinEXCLUSIVE: The Weinstein Company has acquired theatrical rights to Salinger, the Shane Salerno-directed feature documentary on the reclusive author of The Catcher In The Rye. The deal is seven figures, around $2 million, and covers world rights except for the previous deal that licensed U.S. television rights to PBS’ American Masters. The plan is to release later this year for Oscar season, and the deal came after Harvey Weinstein, David Glasser and the acquisition team were shown the film Sunday morning, the day of the Academy Awards. TWC was the only distributor that saw the finished film, and closed the deal right after. While everyone was partying over the Oscar weekend, TWC acquired Grace of Monaco with Nicole Kidman and Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom with Idris Elba. All three of these films will be in the Oscar season discussion, as will Fruitvale, the film that came out of Sundance with strong buzz, and which TWC also acquired. After two years of winning Best Picture, Harvey Weinstein watched Argo best his two candidates, Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained. Looks like he really, really wants to be in the winner’s circle again.

That validates an unusual sales strategy that Salerno employed on the film with his lawyer Robert Offer. It was first shown to American Masters, which quickly closed a 7-figure licensing deal. The plan is to make it the 200th installment of that prestigious series, early next year. It was then shown to Jon Karp and his editors from Simon & Schuster, and right after they saw it, they closed a 7-figure publishing deal for a biography that Salerno wrote with David Shields.

Now, the documentary distribution rights are being sold to the only distributor that saw the film. I’m told that the entire deal for theatrical, publishing and U.S. TV rights will be north of $5 million, one of the richest pacts ever for a feature documentary.

For Salerno, this completes an eight year odyssey, and he has been made whole after investing $2 million of his own money into the documentary and the book. It also closes the circle for me; shortly after I arrived from Variety to Deadline Hollywood, Salinger passed away. This was not long after I’d seen an early cut of Salerno’s film. I thought it was absolutely fascinating. I haven’t seen it since, and the discretion shown in the dealmaking process indicates there are secrets that were held back. But here is what I said about it back then: Read More »

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Oscar-Nommed ‘A Royal Affair’ Team Boards Epic Don Winslow Novel ‘Power Of The Dog’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday January 31, 2013 @ 4:02pm PSTTags: Don Winslow, J.D. Salinger, Shane Salerno
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg, who scripted the Swedish The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and followed with the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee A Royal Affair, have found their next project. It’s a feature adaptation of The Power Of The Dog, the epic Don Winslow bestseller framed around the drug war and a 30-year struggle between a hard DEA agent and a family of cartel kingpins in Mexico.

Arcel will direct, and the script will be written by Heisterberg, Arcel and Shane Salerno. Salerno will produce through The Story Factory. This is the same Salerno who wrote, directed, produced and financed the J.D. Salinger documentary Salinger that earlier this week was licensed in the U.S. for an American Masters broadcast and is being shopped for feature distribution after a companion biography sold in a 7-figure deal to Simon & Schuster. Read More »

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Next Up For J.D. Salinger Docu: Film Distribution Deal To Follow S&S Book Pact

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday January 30, 2013 @ 9:23am PSTTags: American Masters, Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, J.D. Salinger, PBS, Salinger, Shane Salerno
Mike Fleming

2ND UPDATE, 9:23 AM: It has been quite a week for J.D. Salinger. The Shane Salerno documentary Salinger has been shown to only two parties so far, and in both cases, the result was a smashing deal. First to see it was the American Masters team, which quickly paid low-seven figures to license U.S. domestic TV rights and make it the 200th installment of the prestigious program in January. Second to see it were the Simon & Schuster editors, who quickly made a worldwide rights deal on the companion book, The Private War Of J.D. Salinger. Agency sources tell me that deal was closer to $2 million than $1 million for the sprawling book by David Shields and Salerno. It will be published in September, just ahead of the theatrical release.

Next up: the feature distribution deal. I don’t get the impression there will be a big gang bang screening and then an auction; it will be a subtler, more selective process than that. But the goal is to lock in a distributor who’ll give it a nice theatrical play in the months before the American Masters premiere next year, and figure out DVD and those other ancillaries excluding U.S. domestic TV rights. By the time all this is done, it should be a nice outcome for Salerno and the eight years and $2 million he invested to assemble both the film and the book. Read More »

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‘Savages’ Co-Writer Shane Salerno Options Edgar-Winning ‘The Lock Artist’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday June 14, 2012 @ 12:58pm PDTTags: Savages, Shane Salerno
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Shane Salerno, who teamed with Oliver Stone and Don Winslow to adapt Winslow’s novel Savages, has acquired film rights to the Steve Hamilton novel The Lock Artist. Published by St. Martin’s Minotaur imprint, the novel won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Salerno will co-write the script with the author and produce the film. They will look to secure a filmmaker shortly.

The Lock Artist is about a young criminal who doesn’t say much but can open anything with a lock on it. Trained by an eccentric genius and owned by a Detroit mobster, he’s rented out as a lock picker for hire to a daring and outlandish gang of youth thieves pulling jobs in Los Angeles. His challenge is to get out before they get caught, and get back to the woman he loves. Salerno is following the same strategy as on Savages, which Universal releases July 6. He and Winslow developed the novel directly with Stone and then it was acquired by Universal in a multi-studio bidding battle. It took only 11 months from the original option deal until the film was in production, with Salerno exec producer. Salerno and Winslow also teamed to adapt Satori, another Winslow novel that Salerno sold to Warner Bros with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to star. Salerno separately brought celebrated crime novelists Chuck Hogan and Winslow together to write a spec script that he’s producing. Salerno also wrote and directed a feature … Read More »

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River Road Options ‘My Salinger Year,’ Sets Emma Forrest To Adapt

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday June 5, 2012 @ 4:49pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Bill Pohlad
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Bill Pohlad’s River Road Entertainment has optioned screen rights to the Joanna Smith Rakoff novel My Salinger Year, and has set Emma Forrest to write the script. Smith Rakoff’s novel, which will be published by Knopf in the winter, is inspired by the author’s own experiences as a college grad who takes a clerical job at the agency that repped famed author J.D. Salinger. The novel deals with an unexpected relationship she developed with the iconic author as she stood as a barrier between him and his adoring public, guarding the reclusive author’s privacy and answering letters that Salinger demanded not to see.

Forrest has an affinity for adapting a book based on the author’s story. She adapted her memoir, Your Voice In My Head, a project that is a priority at Warner Bros with Harry Potter‘s Emma Watson attached, even though David Yates recently dropped out. That book was about her own experiences of losing the psychiatrist who helped her through all kind of personal turmoil when he died of lung cancer without ever telling his patients he was ill. Read More »

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Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgard Cast In Eli Roth’s ‘Hemlock Grove’; Netflix To Air Gaumont-Produced Series In Early 2013

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday, 21 March 2012 13:58 UKTags: Eli Roth, Famke Janssen, Netflix

Netflix Nears Order For Eli Roth Horror Drama ‘Hemlock Grove’ From Gaumont TV

BEVERLY HILLS, CA. — March 21, 2012 — “Hemlock Grove,” a gripping tale of murder, mystery and monsters set in a ravaged Pennsylvania steel town, starring Famke Janssen and Bill Skarsgard and produced by Gaumont International Television, will be available for Netflix members to watch instantly, beginning early in 2013.

“Hemlock Grove” starts with the body of a young girl, mangled and murdered in the shadow of the former Godfrey steel mill. Some suspect an escapee from the White Tower, a biotech facility owned by the former steel magnates. Others believe the killer could be Peter, a 17-year-old Gypsy kid from the wrong side of the tracks, who tells his classmates he’s a werewolf. Or it could be Roman (Skarsgard), the arrogant Godfrey scion, whose sister Shelley is disturbingly deformed and whose mother, Olivia (Janssen), the otherworldly beautiful and controlling grand dame of Hemlock Grove.

As the crime goes unsolved and outlandish rumors mount, Peter and Roman decide to find the killer themselves, confronting unspeakable truths about themselves and Hemlock Grove as the mystery unfolds.

“Eli Roth is a master of this genre and Brian McGreevy’s brilliant novel gives Roth a world where he can create his magic,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix Chief Content Officer. “‘Hemlock Grove’ is a sly blend of J.D. Salinger and Mary Shelley and will appeal to a broad base of fans captivated by these rich characters and stunning visuals.”

Read More »

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Scott Rudin Buys Jonathan Franzen Novel

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday August 13, 2010 @ 7:51am PDTTags: Book Publishing, Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Franzen Freedom, Time Magazine
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: What does it say about how we value our literary lions now when Jonathan Franzen is the first living author placed on Time magazine’s cover since Stephen King appeared there a decade ago? Now producer Scott Rudin has closed a deal for movie rights to Freedom, the first novel that Jonathan Franzen has published since his National Book Award winner The Corrections nearly 10 years earlier. Farrar, Straus and Giroux doesn’t officially publish the book until August 31. Freedom’s focus is the slowly disintegrating relationship of Patty and Walter Berglund, socially conscious college sweethearts, who lose each other and their own moral compasses over the years to temptations both corporate and carnal. Early reviews say its richly drawn characters compares favorably with The Corrections, which Rudin years back also optioned.  Scott hasn’t yet set up Freedom at a studio or assigned a writer to adapt it. But I’m told Franzen’s reps at CAA completed the deal just before the issue of Time hit newsstands today. The venerable newsweekly has put many authors on its cover over the years, including J.D. Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, Tom Wolfe, George Orwell, William Faulkner, Norman Mailer, John Updike, John Irving and Michael Crichton.

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Secret J.D. Salinger Documentary & Book, Now Revealed (Mike Has Seen The Film)

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday January 29, 2010 @ 1:20pm PSTTags: Books, Documentaries, Movies
Mike Fleming

jdsalinger3EXCLUSIVE: Judging by the J.D. Salinger obituaries and tributes, there is just as much interest in the Catcher in the Rye author after his death as there was during his life when he shunned the spotlight for reclusion in Cornish, New Hampshire. Now I can report that Shane Salerno, a 37-year-old screenwriter who’s currently writing Fantastic Voyage for Fox and James Cameron, has directed and produced Salinger, a 2-hour documentary locked late last year after 5 years in the making.

Salerno financed the film out of his pocket, interviewed 150 sources, and accumulated so much information that he collaborated on a 700-page companion book with bestselling author David Shields.

The 150 sources interviewed in the film either worked with Salinger at The New Yorker or had contact with him otherwise, or were greatly influenced by him. The famous names include Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, John Cusack, Danny DeVito, John Guare, Martin Sheen, David Milch, Robert Towne, Tom Wolfe, E.L. Doctorow, A. Scott Berg, Elizabeth Frank, Gore Vidal, and many other fans, journalists, filmmakers, playwrights, and artists inspired by Salinger’s work.

The film — kept under the radar until now — wasn’t done in time for consideration at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. As a result, the filmmaker hoped to present it at a spring film festival, like Cannes. It will be shopped shortly.

shanesalernoI first learned about the project last year from some sources who’d been interviewed for it. After … Read More »

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