http://www.deadline.com Fri, 18 May 2012 01:10:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Controversy? What controversy? Some journalists and bloggers , including at least one who isn’t even here, are saying there is a controversy in Cannes this year over the fact that no women directors are represented in the official selection. That may be true – there were four last year – but anyone who has sat through the first four competition films as I have must realize that , so far at least, women are the  dominating factor  in all of them, and from what I have been tipped of the remaining films it is just the beginning. They may not be behind the camera this year but they are very prominent in front of it. They are also prominent on the jury making up nearly half of it. When asked about the lack of women directors this year, Oscar winning juror Andrea Arnold said she would never want one of her movies considered for a berth just because it was directed by a woman. Nevertheless women are a very visible force in the films seen to date. And of course there is the image of one of Hollywood’s greatest female stars, Marilyn Monroe as the festival’s Poster Image everywhere you go here. In Wednesday night’s opener Moonrise Kingdom , young newcomer Kara Hayward practically carries the film (with co-star Jared ... Read More »]]> http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/women-dominate-early-competition-films-as-marion-cotillard-hits-the-festival-for-the-first-time-cannes/ A day after MTV‘s surprising cancellation of comedy I Just Want My Pants Back after one season, the series’ driving force, executive producer/director Doug Liman says the news still hasn’t sunk in because no one at the show saw it coming. “They were so bullish on the show. MTV’s (head of programming) David Janollari told me that for an executive, this kind of shows come only a few times in a career. That was a month ago.” Related: MTV Cancels ‘I Just Want My Pants Back; Comedy Series Looks For New Home Liman said that his team was already working on Season 2 when the cancellation news came. “When the head of the network tells tells you how passionate he is and that he is bringing back the show, and when the studio tells you how profitable the show is, you start to work on next season.” “I’m no stranger to disappointment,” he added, pointing out how the Sundance festival passed on his cult 1996 movie Swingers. He also noted that he’s worked on shows that didn’t work and has accepted their demise. But Pants is different. “It’s really upsetting, not only because of how hard we worked but because of the way the series was received — it was one of MTV’s best reviewed shows ever. ... Read More »]]> http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/doug-liman-reacts-to-i-just-want-my-pants-back-cancellation-im-not-done-fighting/ EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox is making a deal to acquire Playdate, a pitch that Tim Hill and Dave Johnson will write, as a directing vehicle for Hill, who directe Hop and Alvin and the Chipmunks. The plot of the family film is being kept under wraps, but the title is somewhat self explanatory. The film will be produced by Nicky Weinstock through his Fox-based Invention Films. Hill’s repped by Gersh and Principato-Young, and Johnson by Principato-Young. ]]> http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/fox-makes-playdate-with-hop-helmer-tim-hill/ EXCLUSIVE: Disney has hired writer Jesse Wigutow to adapt the best-selling children’s novel, Peter and the Starcatchers, the 2004 book published by Disney’s Hyperion which gives the backstory for the iconic Peter Pan character. Co-authored by Dave Barry and Ridley Pierson, the book has become a hot property, with the current Broadway adaptation having just nabbed nine Tony Award nominations, including Best Play. Peter and the Starcatchers is the first in a series of books by the authors, giving franchise potential to the project. Wigutow’s adaptation of the Robert Ludlum thriller Osterman Weekend is in development with Brian Kirk directing at Summit, The Crow with F. Javier Gutierrez attached to direct at Relativity Media, and the Steve McQueen biopic at Cross Creek. Wigutow is repped by UTA, attorney Warren Dern, and Benderspink. ]]> http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/disney-sets-jesse-wigutow-to-script-peter-and-the-starcatchers/ Bill Benenson has teamed with cinematographer Steve Elkins for the documentary The Search For Ciudad Blanca In The Point Cloud. The Dirt! The Movie filmmaker and the Emmy-winning Elkins will co-direct and co-produce the documentary. Venture Technologies Investment Group founder Gary Spire will executive produce. Shot over two decades in Honduras, the doc also utilizes recently developed aerial laser imaging to survey the vast Mosquitia jungle region. The LiDAR tech was able to see through the thick rain forest growth. The result, Benenson tells Deadline, reveals “hidden manmade structures” and “lost remains” in the area rumored to once have been the home of the fabled city of Ciudad Blanca. The legend of the Mosquito Coast river valley’s White City, so named for its supposed white rock buildings, has grown over the centuries since conquistador Hernan Cortes first heard of it in 1526. Benenson’s feature film Dirt! The Movie, narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, was a 2009 Sundance Film Festival Selection. The film had its TV premiere on Earth Day 2010 on PBS’s Independent Lens. The film recently played at the Beijing International Film Festival as one of only two chosen American documentaries. ]]> http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/%e2%80%98dirt%e2%80%99-director-seeks-to-find-lost-jungle-city-in-new-doc/ The Bernard-Henri Levy documentary The Oath Of Tobruk was a late entry into the Cannes Film Festival. The Weinstein Company has acquired U.S. rights to the film, which was made over the eight-month period of conflict that put an end to Muammar Gaddafi’s reign in Libya. “American audiences will get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how our government and the French government worked together to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians and brilliantly handled the overthrow of a government.” Harvey Weinstein said in the release announcing the deal. The festival has set a special screening of the doc May 25, when key figures from the revolution will attend as guests of Levy, the French philosopher-journalist. The film was produced by Studio 37, a financier of last year’s Cannes darling and Best Picture Oscar winner The Artist, also a Weinstein film; Margo Cinema; and Arté. Rezo is selling remaining territories at the Cannes market. ]]> http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/oath-of-tobruk-weinstein-company-acquisition-cannes-film-festival/ EXCLUSIVE: Anthony Mackie is in talks to join Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck in Runner Runner, the New Regency drama to be directed by Lincoln Lawyer helmer Brad Furman. Production begins next month. The drama revolves around the world of offshore online gaming and an increasingly tense relationship between a business founder and his protege. The film is being co-financed by Stone Village, and produced by Appian Way. The script was written by David Levien and Brian Koppelman. Mackie stars in the upcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and just wrapped the Ruben Fleischer-directed Gangster Squad. He’s shooting the Michael Bay-directed Pain and Gain and is repped by UTA and Inspire Entertainment. ]]> http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/anthony-mackie-in-step-with-runner-runner/ Facebook will go public tomorrow at $38 a share, valuing the social network company at more than $100B. That will make it the biggest Internet IPO ever — and one of the toughest stocks to analyze. Fans see it as the opportunity of a lifetime to own of piece of company that’s becoming central to the world’s digital future. Critics warn that Facebook’s shrewd owners and bankers aren’t doing anybody a favor: Buyers could discover that they’ve been caught up in a faith-based craze over a young company that lacks a track record of strong earnings, or even a clear strategy for consistent profit growth. What to do? Here are some arguments to consider: Bulls: Facebook is a revolutionary service with a bright future. The social network had 526M daily active users at the end of March, +41% over 12 months. That should continue: Web usage is still on the rise around the globe, and about 48% of users are on Facebook. The penetration rate also should grow; the rate in the U.S. is 66%. Just imagine what Facebook can do when it cracks into China. It’s a solid business: Once people start to use Facebook, they’re hooked. It takes time to build up a network of friends, and nobody else can offer connections to nearly as many people. Facebook has ... Read More »]]> http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/should-you-buy-facebook-a-few-things-to-consider-before-tomorrows-frenzy/ BREAKING: Hampton Fancher is in talks to join director Ridley Scott in developing a new version of Blade Runner for Alcon Entertainment. Alcon is acknowledging the film is a sequel, and that it takes place some years after the first film concluded. Fancher cowrote the original Blade Runner, based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Alcon Entertainment had the rights to the 1982 science fiction classic that starred Harrison Ford, but excitement on the project really escalated once Deadline revealed last August that Scott would come back and revisit the source material as director. Scott’s next film is Prometheus, a film that started as a prequel to his classic Alien, which he and Fox consider to be an original film. That’s different from Blade Runner, which at this point is being considered a sequel, even though Alcon has gone on record that the next movie won’t focus on Ford’s character, who hunted replicants until he fell in love with one. According to Alcon, Scott and Fancher intended Blade Runner to be the first in a series of films, but that didn’t happen. Now they are taking their crack at the second installment. Scott is producing with Alcon cofounders Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, as well as Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin. Thunderbirg Films’ Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble ... Read More »]]> http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/blade-runner-scribe-hampton-fancher-returning-for-ridley-scott-directed-sequel/