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HBO In Ring With Playtone And Ken Burns For Miniseries On Fighter Jack Johnson

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday January 24, 2013 @ 6:06pm PSTTags: Gary Goetzman, HBO, Ken Burns, Playtone, Tom Hanks
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: HBO has set Ides Of March screenwriter and playwright Beau Willimon to write Jack Johnson, a miniseries about the life of the first African-American world heavyweight champion. The mini teams Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and historian and documentary director Ken Burns. To be told in four to six parts, the mini is based on the Geoffrey C. Ward book Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise And Fall Of Jack Johnson, which Burns previously adapted into the Emmy-winning PBS documentary of the same name. Burns is aboard to direct. Hanks and Goetzman are exec producers, and Burns is too. Willimon is co-exec producer.

In the early 20th Century, Johnson was the class of the heavyweight division, a proud man of color who paid a high price for it. The main problem: he twice married white women and did not hide it or the fact that he liked to live well. He surprised both whites and blacks when he was given a title shot by Canadian fighter Tommy Burns and beat him. He further shook up the white status quo by knocking out ex-champ James J. Jeffries, who’d refused to fight Johnson while he held the belt but came out of retirement to be touted by the press and racist whites as the “Great White Hope.” In the aftermath of Jeffries’ defeat, celebrations by African-Americans led to clashes with sore white crowds, and more than 20 deaths were reported across the country in the race riots.

Unable to find someone to beat him in the ring, the white establishment targeted Johnson in other ways. The U.S. government prosecuted him for violating the Mann Act, for transporting his wife-to-be across state lines. Even though he was sentenced to a year in prison, Johnson would not give up the heavyweight belt. He disguised himself as a member of a black baseball team and fled to Canada. He landed in Europe and remained a fugitive for seven years. In Paris, he defended his heavyweight belt three times before agreeing to fight Jess Willard in Cuba. Many felt he deliberately lost because he had been promised no jail time if he relinquished the title to a white challenger. Johnson still served a year in a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.

While his unjust treatment was chronicled in the James Earl Jones-starrer The Great White Hope on Broadway and then the big screen, and in Burns’ meticulously researched documentary, Johnson has never really been given a fair shake. Attempts to gain a posthumous pardon for the fighter have so far been unavailing, despite being passed by both houses of Congress.

This become the second big miniseries that Hanks and Goetzman have recently set at HBO, where they’ve previously done John Adams and teamed with Steven Spielberg on The Pacific and Band of Brothers. They just announced they will team again with Spielberg on a third WWII mini, partly based on the Donald L. Miller book Masters Of The Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought The Air War Against Nazi Germany. Playtone also produced Big Love and the acclaimed miniseries Game Change.

Willimon turned his play Farragut North into Ides Of March, which he co-wrote with George Clooney and Grant Heslov. He’s currently executive producer and writer of House Of Cards, the Netflix series collaboration between David Fincher and Kevin Spacey. He’s repped by CAA.

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‘The Artist’s Michel Hazanavicius In Talks To Helm Tom Hanks In Pre-WWII Thriller ‘In The Garden Of Beasts’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday September 13, 2012 @ 3:38pm PDTTags: Michel Hazanavicius, Playtone, Tom Hanks, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Michel Hazanavicius, who won the Oscar in February for helming The Artist, is in talks to direct the Universal Pictures/Playtone adaptation of the Erik Larson nonfiction book In The Garden Of Beasts. Tom Hanks will star in the film and produce it with partner Gary Goetzman, and I’m hearing that they are courting Natalie Portman to play his daughter in the harrowing pre-WWII tale.

Hanks will play William Dodd, a mild-mannered Chicago professor who becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany before the Nazis began to assert an iron grip across Europe. At first, his family embraces the vibrant scene in Berlin, and his young daughter Martha (the role they want Portman to play) in particular falls hard for the seduction and engages in a series of affairs with the handsome men of the Third Reich and even the first chief of the Gestapo. Soon enough, the ambassador gets reports of violence against Jews and even though his dispatches to the State Department are met with indifference, he continues to be concerned with the growing press censorship and the passage of shocking laws. It leads to the gradual realization of the horrific genocide that Hitler actually has planned for Europe and the world. Portman isn’t set yet, but I hear Hazanavicius is preparing to work on a draft with a writer that will soon be hired. Read More »

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HBO Acquiring Philip Kerr ‘Berlin Noir’ Novels For Series

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday April 13, 2012 @ 10:42am PDTTags: Gary Goetzman, HBO, Playtone, Tom Hanks
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: HBO and Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are in early talks to acquire the Berlin Noir novel series by Philip Kerr. The plan is to develop this as a series that focuses on the police detective character … Read More »

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Yahoo Joins Original Scripted Programming Fray With Deal For Tom Hanks’ Animated ‘Electric City’: CES

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday January 9, 2012 @ 6:38am PSTTags: Playtone, Reliance Entertainment, Tom Hanks, Yahoo

Yahoo says that it has exclusive online rights to the sci-fi adventure series Electric City, which will be shown in several parts beginning in 2012 supported by “a deeply immersive and interactive online experience that enhances the drama, mystery and intrigue of the series.” Electric City will be available in several languages including French and Spanish, and will be complemented by opportunities for fans to interact with the cast and creators. No word on financial terms. The announcement coincides with this week’s 2012 International CES consumer electronics show. Here’s the release:

LAS VEGAS, Nev., International CES (January 9, 2012) – Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, today announced that they have joined forces with Playtone and Reliance Entertainment to bring Tom Hanks’ multi-dimensional animated series “Electric City” to Yahoo! in 2012. As the exclusive online broadcast home for “Electric City,” Yahoo! will bring Hanks’ vision and storytelling to a global audience. Set in a futuristic society, “Electric City” is a new 90- minute action-packed sci-fi adventure series, and marks Yahoo!’s first foray into original scripted programming. “Electric City” was created by and stars Tom Hanks.

Read More »

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Cineflix Studios Hires LA Executive

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday November 2, 2011 @ 7:27am PDTTags: Cineflix Studios, Copper, Playtone
Nellie Andreeva

Cineflix Studios, the scripted division of Canadian producer Cineflix Media, is opening a Los Angeles office with the hire of Playtone development executive Miura Kite as EVP. She will join on November 7 and report to Cinefix Studios president Christina … Read More »

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Netflix Taps Playtone Executive For New Original Content Acquisition Post

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday October 20, 2011 @ 4:14pm PDTTags: Netflix, Playtone, Ted Sarandos
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Longtime Playtone development and production executive Peter Friedlander is joining Netflix, where he will oversee original content acquisition. While acquisitions of existing TV series has been the backbone of Netflix’s rise over the past few years, including high-profile recent deals with AMC and the CW, the streaming giant also signaled an expansion into original series with the recent deal with MRC for drama House Of Cards. Netflix’s major acquisitions/output deals have been orchestrated by Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. My understanding is that Friedlander will focus on series that will be produced exclusively for Netflix. Netflix has now become a go-to place for every production company shopping a direct-to-series project or a canceled network series they want to keep alive. The online distributor was recently pitched the new Charlie Sheen sitcom Anger Management and the Arrested Development reboot and had been in negotiations for a new comedy series from Weeds creator Jenji Kohan. While it is expanding into original series, Netflix does not plan to expand into development or production and will continue to license shows developed and produced by outside companies. Friedlander’s role will be to help identify and bring new series and other projects to Netflix. Read More »

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Playtone Setting Neil Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’ For HBO Series

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday April 14, 2011 @ 4:20pm PDTTags: Gary Goetzman, Martin Scorsese, Neil Gaiman, Oliver Stone, Playtone, Quentin Tarantino, Tom Hanks, TV, TV Deals
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: As HBO prepares to unveil its epic-sized series adaptation of George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones this Sunday, the payweb has begun talks to acquire the Neil Gaiman novel American Gods to be developed into another fantasy series. The … Read More »

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Universal Tuning Feature Version Of Green Day Stage Musical ‘American Idiot’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 12, 2011 @ 6:04pm PDTTags: Cameron Mackintosh, Dustin Lance Black, Gary Goetzman, Kenny Ortega, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mamma Mia!, Michael Mayer, Playtone, Tom Hanks, Tom Hooper, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures is negotiating to turn the Green Day-fueled Broadway musical American Idiot into a feature film. Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning Milk scribe, is in talks to write the script, and Michael Mayer will direct. Mayer helmed the stage run of the musical, which is closing on Broadway April 24 and launching a tour in the fall. Black most recently scripted J. Edgar, the Clint Eastwood film that stars Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover.

The musical, which uses the songs of the punk band’s seminal 2004 album to tell the coming-of-age story of three small-town guys, was optioned before its opening last spring by Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. They previously turned the stage hit Mamma Mia! into a Universal film. It is expected that Green Day lead singer/songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong will be courted to play the role of the drug dealer St. Jimmy. Each time he did a stint in the role on Broadway, the grosses rose considerably at the St. James Theatre. The band was actively involved in the formation of the musical. Read More »

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Ed Harris To Play John McCain In HBO’s McCain/Palin Movie ‘Game Change’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday March 23, 2011 @ 5:11pm PDTTags: Ed Harris, Game Change, HBO, John McCain, Playtone
Nellie Andreeva

Ed Harris is set to star opposite Julianne Moore in HBO Films’ Game Change, which Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone has come on board to produce.

Harris will portray Sen. … Read More »

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Playtone, Reliance Go To ‘Electric City’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 1, 2010 @ 8:09am PDTTags: Gary Goetzman, Internet, Movies, Playtone, Tom Hanks
Mike Fleming

Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, who already had a first look deal to hatch film projects with India-based Reliance Big Entertainment, have expanded the relationship to the web with Electric City, a serial saga about a Sin City-like … Read More »

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