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Omar Miller To Co-Star In HBO’s Dwayne Johnson Dramedy Pilot

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 8, 2013 @ 5:13pm PDTTags: Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, Omar Miller, Peter Berg
Nellie Andreeva

Omar Miller, Dwayne Johnson, HBO pilotEXCLUSIVE: CSI: Miami alum Omar Miller is set to co-star opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in HBO’s untitled dramedy pilot Johnson executive produces with Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson. Written by Levinson, the project chronicles the lives of athletes — some retired, some still active — living in Miami. Miller will play Charles, an affable former pro athlete who is searching for his next career. Peter Berg is directing the pilot and will executive produce, along with Johnson’s manager Dany Garcia, who runs his production company. Miller, repped by Don Buchwald & Associates and MBST, next will be seen in action feature Homefront, written by Sylvester Stallone and directed by Gary Fleder.

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Dwayne Johnson To Star In & Produce HBO Pilot About Athletes From Steve Levinson & Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg To Direct

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 2, 2013 @ 9:30am PDTTags: Dwayne Johnson, HBO, Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg
Nellie Andreeva

HBO has given a pilot order to a half-hour dramedy pilot starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. This marks the first TV-starring role for the movie actor/wrestler, who is executive producing the project with his Pain & Gain co-star Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson. Peter Berg is on board to direct the pilot and will executive produce, along with Johnson’s manager Dany Garcia who runs his production company. Written by Levinson, the untitled project chronicles the lives of athletes — some retired, some still active — living in Miami. Johnson will play one of them, with filming eyed for the fall.

Johnson’s collaboration with Wahlberg and his manager/ frequent producing partner Levinson on the project, based on an idea by Levinson, stems from Johnson and Wahlberg’s work together on Michael Bay’s action movie Pain & Gain, which opened at No. 1 this past weekend. The two actors also are repped by the same agency, WME. Read More »

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Focus Features, Peter Berg Plan Film On Hockey Enforcer Derek Boogaard; Died At 28

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday April 26, 2013 @ 10:42am PDTTags: Derek Boogaard, Focus Features, Peter Berg, Punched Out
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Attention on the long-term brain damage suffered by contact sports stars has primarily fallen on pro football because of the tragic suicides of superstars like Junior Seau and Dave Duerson, both of whom left behind their brains for study … Read More »

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David Graziano And Peter Berg’s Drama ‘Bloodline’ Gets Pilot Order At NBC

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 9:09am PSTTags: Big Deals TV, David Graziano, NBC, Peter Berg
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: NBC has given a pilot order to Bloodline, a stylized drama from writer David Graziano (Awake, Lie To Me) and producers Peter Berg and Sarah … Read More »

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Fox Buys Greek God Action Drama From Peter Berg And Taylor Sheridan

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday October 31, 2012 @ 4:43pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Peter Berg
Nellie Andreeva

Taylor SheridanPeter BergEXCLUSIVE: Greek Gods are hot at Fox this development season. The network has put in development Olympus, an action drama created by writer-director Peter Berg and actor-writer Taylor Sheridan (Sons Of Anarchy). The project, from Universal TV and Berg and Sarah Aubrey’s studio-based Film 44, is described as “Bourne by way of 300.” It centers on a decorated soldier-turned-spy who finds out he actually is descended from the Greek Gods and may just be humanity’s last hope. In his broadcast pilot writing debut, Sheridan will write the script. Read More »

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Peter Berg Tells Mitt Romney To Stop Using ‘Friday Night Lights’ Slogan

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Friday October 12, 2012 @ 11:06am PDTTags: Friday Night Lights, Mitt Romney, Peter Berg

Friday Night Lights Mitt RomneyFriday Night Lights creator Peter Bergwants the GOP presidential candidate to stop using the expression “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose” from his former NBC show. Berg’s letter comes just days after Buzz Bissinger, who wrote the book upon which the series is based, announced that he was going to vote for the Republican ticket. The request also comes just a couple of days after Sesame Street‘s production company asked President Obama’s campaign to take down its Big Bird-themed ad taking Mitt Romney to task for his plan to cut funding to PBS. Here’s Berg’s letter he sent to Romney today:

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Film 44′s Spy Drama ‘M.I.C.E.’ Set As Put Pilot At NBC, Pete Berg To Write And Direct

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday September 18, 2012 @ 10:05am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Keshet, NBC, Peter Berg
Nellie Andreeva

NBC has closed a deal for a put pilot commitment to M.I.C.E., a drama from Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey’s Film 44 based on the Israeli format The Gordin Cell. Berg is set to write and direct the pilot in his first pilot-writing effort since Friday Night Lights. Universal TV, where Film 44 is based, will produce with Israeli company Keshet Media Group, which is behind the original series, along with Israeli satcaster YES, which airs it, and Tedy Prods, which produces it.

The deal comes after a couple of months of negotiations among the parties involved in M.I.C.E., whose title is an acronym for Money, Ideology, Coercion and Ego, used to understand the motives of spies in betraying their countries. Gordin Cell revolves around the Gordin family and centers on Israeli-born Eyal Gordin, a decorated Israeli Air Force officer in a high-security post who loves his country and family. His parents Michael and Diana, Grandmother Nina and elder sister Natalia emigrated from the USSR in 1990. Eyal has no idea that his parents were Russian spies. When Miki and Diana’s former handler appears one day, demanding that they recruit their son into espionage activity (watch the scene below with English subtitles), Eyal faces an impossible dilemma: his cooperation with Russian intelligence determines his family’s fate, while his dedication to Israel’s homeland security tests his family allegiance.  His country, or his family… who will he choose to betray? Berg said the original plot “lands itself very easily to an American reinvention” as a drama set in the U.S. “There are still real issues between the U.S. and Russia — they’re spying on us, we’re spying on them.”

Berg will executive produce M.I.C.E. with Aubrey; Avi Nir, CEO of Keshet; Ron Lesham and Amit Cohen, who developed the original series; YES’ Yona Wiesenthal; and Giora Yahalom. “We at Keshet are grateful to have this opportunity, along with Peter and NBC, to tell the M.I.C.E. story to the American audiences,” Nir said. Read More »

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Peter Berg Taps Alexander Ludwig For Navy SEAL Shane Patton In ‘Lone Survivor’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday August 23, 2012 @ 4:14pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Lone Survivor, Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Alexander Ludwig has landed the role of Navy SEAL Shane Patton in Lone Survivor, the Peter Berg-directed adaptation of the Marcus Luttrell book. Ludwig plays a soldier on a covert mission that goes wrong, joining … Read More »

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Eric Bana Negotiating For ‘Lone Survivor’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 13, 2012 @ 12:29pm PDTTags: Eric Bana, Lone Survivor, Peter Berg
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Eric Bana is in talks to costar in Lone Survivor, the Peter Berg-directed drama that is being financed by Emmett/Furla Films for a September 25 start in New Mexico. Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster … Read More »

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Emile Hirsch In Talks To Play Final SEAL Role In ‘Lone Survivor’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday July 20, 2012 @ 3:21pm PDTTags: Emile Hirsch, Lone Survivor, Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Emile Hirsch is in talks to play Navy SEAL Danny Dietz in Lone Survivor, the Peter Berg-directed drama that is being financed by Emmett/Furla Films for a September 25 start in New Mexico. Mark Wahlberg, … Read More »

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‘Battleship’ Slows To $170.9M Overseas

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday April 30, 2012 @ 3:39pm PDTTags: Battleship, International Box Office, Peter Berg

Battleship Box OfficePeter Berg’s military vs aliens actioner from Universal moved into its 3rd weekend of international release and grossed an estimated $22.5M at 9,604 dates in 50 territories. That now brings the international total grosses … Read More »

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‘Battleship’ Past $100M Foreign Box Office

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Saturday April 21, 2012 @ 2:07pm PDTTags: Battleship, International Box Office, Peter Berg

Peter Berg’s military vs aliens actioner from Universal Pictures made the milestone in its first 10 days of international release. Through this Sunday Battleship‘s first 12-day total should reach $126.7M in its first 10 days of international release. The pressure … Read More »

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‘Battleship’ Builds $58M Foreign War Chest

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Saturday April 14, 2012 @ 8:31am PDTTags: Battleship, Peter Berg, Universal

SATURDAY AM,  2ND UPDATE: Universal’s Battleship continues to screen strongly overseas with estimates from Day 2 and Day 3 bringing the 72-hour total to $58 million with all 26 … Read More »

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TOLDJA! Universal Confirms Promotional Partners For ‘Battleship’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday March 27, 2012 @ 4:00am PDTTags: Battleship, Big Deals Film, Peter Berg, Universal Pictures

Early last month I revealed that Universal Pictures was putting together $50 million in promotional partnerships to back its $200 million Peter Berg-directed film Battleship. The studio has issued a release today formalizing the arrangements, with the specific brands … Read More »

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Peter Berg & Sarah Aubrey’s Film 44 Signs New Overall Deal With Universal Television

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday March 16, 2012 @ 12:38pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Peter Berg, Sarah Aubrey, Universal Television
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Berg & Sarah Aubrey’s production company Film 44 has inked a new overall deal with Universal Television. Under the two-year pact, the two will develop and produce new … Read More »

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Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster Circle Peter Berg’s ‘Lone Survivor;’ Emmett/Furla Financing For Universal

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday February 28, 2012 @ 4:39pm PSTTags: Ben Foster, Emmett/Furla Films, Lone Survivor, Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg, Taylor Kitsch, Universal
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Emmett/Furla Films is coming aboard to finance Lone Survivor, and director Peter Berg is in talks with Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch and Ben Foster to play three of the four lead Navy SEALs. Universal Pictures, which developed the movie, will distribute. An adaptation of the book by Marcus Luttrell, Lone Survivor tells the harrowing story of how Luttrell and his Navy SEAL team members fought to stay alive after being ambushed in Afghanistan in 2005 by Taliban forces during a covert mission in the Hindu Kush mountain region, where the team went to kill a terrorist leader. Wahlberg will play Luttrell in Berg’s followup to Battleship, which stars Kitsch.

Berg and Universal first began developing the project at Universal when the filmmaker signed on for Battleship. At the time, movies with sand in them and war weren’t working, but the opening-weekend grosses of Act Of Valor indicate that audiences are once again hungry for heroic war tales, especially those involving Navy SEALs. Kathryn Bigelow and Sony Pictures are getting underway with a drama revolving around the Navy SEAL Team 6′s hunt and killing of 9/11 terror attack mastermind Osama bin Laden. Lone Survivor is a different film, but it is expected to get underway this fall. Berg and Film 44 partner Sarah Aubrey, Akiva Goldsman, Barry Spikings will be producers as well as Randall Emmett and George Furla. Wahlberg will likely be involved in a producing capacity also.

Berg, who covered the Middle East terrain previously with the taut drama The Kingdom, has put in the work on this one. He wrote the Lone Survivor script after embedding with a SEAL team for a month in Iraq, an experience that really gave him a chance to see how they do their job. Berg wanted to make the film immediately, but two years ago the studio made him a bargain: direct Battleship and then follow with Lone Survivor. The timing hasn’t hurt, at all. Read More »

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Super Bowl Spot: ‘Battleship’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday February 5, 2012 @ 4:13pm PSTTags: Battleship, Peter Berg

Pete Berg’s ‘Battleship’ Attacks Super Bowl With 60-Second Spot

This is a new 60-second spot for Peter Berg’s Battleship, which opens internationally in April and in the U.S./Canada on May 18th. Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker and Rihanna star in this Universal sci-fi actioner written by Erich Hoeber and … Read More »

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Hot Trailer: Peter Berg’s ‘Battleship’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday December 9, 2011 @ 12:22pm PSTTags: Battleship, Peter Berg, Universal

Universal has released its second trailer for Battleship, Peter Berg’s tentpole take on the Hasbro board game that comes out May 18, 2012:

rtmp://streaming.deadline.com/ondemand/video/BS_T2_2011-12-09.flv
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Universal Pictures Chairman Adam Fogelson Re-Upped Through 2014

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday September 19, 2011 @ 12:37pm PDTTags: Aaron Johnson, Adam Fogelson, Akiva Goldsman, Alexander Skarsgard, Benicio Del Toro, Blake Lively, Brian Grazer, Carl Rinsch, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Espinosa, Denzel Washington, Don Winslow, Guillermo Del Toro, Hugh Jackman, Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, Joseph Kosinski, Keanu Reeves, Kristen Stewart, Liam Neeson, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Bay, Mila Kunis, Oliver Stone, Peter Berg, Rihanna, Robert Schwentke, Ron Howard, Ron Meyer, Rupert Sanders, Russell Crowe, Seth MacFarlane, Shane Salerno, Stephen King, Steve Burke, Taylor Kitsch, Tom Cruise, Tom Hooper, Tony Gilroy, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: NBCUniversal’s new owners at Comcast have given a vote of confidence to the studio’s feature film operation. They’ve exercised an option on Universal Pictures’ Chairman Adam Fogelson and extended his contract through 2014. I’m told that Fogelson is, in turn, in the process of exercising the option of Donna Langley and she will continue as the studio’s co-chairman. They will also keep their executive team intact. Fogelson will continue to have full day-to-day operating responsibility for the Motion Picture Group, reporting to Universal Studios President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer (whose contract was recently re-upped through 2015) and will now also report to NBCUniversal Chief Executive Officer Steve Burke.

While Universal has had its ups and downs, higher-ups are clearly convinced that Fogelson, Langley and their team are making progress. They’ve had recent hits –Bridesmaids, Hop! and Fast Five– but also had some recent misses that include The Dilemma, Change-Up and Cowboys & Aliens. In the latter case, the studio was on the hook for one-third of the film, and shared that third with Relativity Media. It has also been a year in which Fogelson and his team have made some painful decisions and let pricey productions go. That began with the Guillermo Del Toro-directed At the Mountains of Madness, which Universal developed for years and which was ready to go with Tom Cruise, until the studio made a late decision not to go forward because of the possibility the $150M film could carry an R-rating. Universal also dropped two projects that were in advanced  stages of development: The Dark Tower, the Akiva Goldsman-directed adaptation of the Stephen King novel series that was to be made into three feature films and two limited-run TV series, with the first film and TV segment directed by Ron Howard and produced by Brian Grazer and Goldsman; and Oiuja, the Hasbro board game that had McG directing and Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes partners producing with Hasbro. The moves were surprising because Howard and Grazer are cornerstone filmmakers for Universal; and Del Toro and Hasbro have overall deals there. Ouija is one of several Hasbro properties the studio dropped, the others being the Gore Verbinski-directed Clue, the Ridley Scott-directed Monopoly and Magic, The Gathering. These were part of a groundbreaking deal the studio made with the toymaker several years ago, but the studio and Hasbro have re-focused their attention solely on Battleship, Stretch Armstrong, and Candy Land. Read More »

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