Exclusive: Biotech entrepreneur Jonathan Lim, M.D. is moving into the realm of film production and financing with the launch of City Hill Arts.
Lim’s start-up will acquire IP, develop, package, produce and fund projects, while investing in those that meet its criteria, via exceptional writing, talent and collaborators. Executives joining him at the company include Participant Media and MGM veteran Jeff Ivers, who will serve as COO; Robin Jonas, a 10-year veteran of Miramax Films and former President of Kevin Costner’s Tig Productions, who will serve as President; Alcon Entertainment’s former head of production Steven P. Wegner, who will serve as EVP Production; and Mike Kolko, who brings broad experience in production accounting and tax incentives to his role as VP of Physical Production.
Lim says his goal with City Hill Arts is to “revitalize people, planet and perspective”—to spotlight “stories of transformation, or everyday...
Lim’s start-up will acquire IP, develop, package, produce and fund projects, while investing in those that meet its criteria, via exceptional writing, talent and collaborators. Executives joining him at the company include Participant Media and MGM veteran Jeff Ivers, who will serve as COO; Robin Jonas, a 10-year veteran of Miramax Films and former President of Kevin Costner’s Tig Productions, who will serve as President; Alcon Entertainment’s former head of production Steven P. Wegner, who will serve as EVP Production; and Mike Kolko, who brings broad experience in production accounting and tax incentives to his role as VP of Physical Production.
Lim says his goal with City Hill Arts is to “revitalize people, planet and perspective”—to spotlight “stories of transformation, or everyday...
- 4/19/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Sony Pictures Television’s TriStar is adapting Laurie Fabiano’s bestselling 2010 historical novel Elizabeth Street for television, with Edoardo Ponti (The Life Ahead) attached to direct and executive produce. Tyler Hisel has written a pilot for the project, based on Fabiano’s own great-grandmother’s epic struggles.
Elizabeth Street is set in New York’s Little Italy at the dawn of the 20th century. It follows Giovanna Pontillo, an Italian immigrant reeling in the wake of personal tragedy. Arriving in America, her survival and success on the streets of Old New York soon draws the unwanted attention of the notorious Black Hand, the earliest form of the Italian-American Mafia. As the stakes grow higher, Giovanna desperately fights to save what is important above all else – family.
“Elizabeth Street brings together everything that inspires me: the journey of a strong female protagonist who faces insurmountable odds to bring justice to her family,...
Elizabeth Street is set in New York’s Little Italy at the dawn of the 20th century. It follows Giovanna Pontillo, an Italian immigrant reeling in the wake of personal tragedy. Arriving in America, her survival and success on the streets of Old New York soon draws the unwanted attention of the notorious Black Hand, the earliest form of the Italian-American Mafia. As the stakes grow higher, Giovanna desperately fights to save what is important above all else – family.
“Elizabeth Street brings together everything that inspires me: the journey of a strong female protagonist who faces insurmountable odds to bring justice to her family,...
- 5/20/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Amblin Partners is developing a true-life show choir movie, teaming with Safehouse Pictures’ Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell and Tiara Blu Film’s Diane Nabatoff for the feature.
The movie is based on real-life school teacher Lynette Carr-Hicks and her show choir team known as Rhythm of the Knight that, in 2018, claimed the grand prize at the Show Choir National Finals, becoming the first group composed of black and Latinx singers to earn the coveted award.
Carr-Hicks is the choir director at New York's Uniondale High School, where she changed the traditional choir at the school into ...
The movie is based on real-life school teacher Lynette Carr-Hicks and her show choir team known as Rhythm of the Knight that, in 2018, claimed the grand prize at the Show Choir National Finals, becoming the first group composed of black and Latinx singers to earn the coveted award.
Carr-Hicks is the choir director at New York's Uniondale High School, where she changed the traditional choir at the school into ...
Amblin Partners is developing a true-life show choir movie, teaming with Safehouse Pictures’ Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell and Tiara Blu Film’s Diane Nabatoff for the feature.
The movie is based on real-life school teacher Lynette Carr-Hicks and her show choir team known as Rhythm of the Knight that, in 2018, claimed the grand prize at the Show Choir National Finals, becoming the first group composed of black and Latinx singers to earn the coveted award.
Carr-Hicks is the choir director at New York's Uniondale High School, where she changed the traditional choir at the school into ...
The movie is based on real-life school teacher Lynette Carr-Hicks and her show choir team known as Rhythm of the Knight that, in 2018, claimed the grand prize at the Show Choir National Finals, becoming the first group composed of black and Latinx singers to earn the coveted award.
Carr-Hicks is the choir director at New York's Uniondale High School, where she changed the traditional choir at the school into ...
Mwm Studios is joining poet-playwright Marcus Gardley on the upcoming film adaptation of his play “The House That Will Not Stand.”
Mwm producers Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane and producer Diane Nabatoff are on board Gardley’s historical comic drama. The play won Gardley the 2015 Glickman Award and was a finalist for the 2015 Kennedy Prize.
Set in Fauberg Treme in New Orleans in 1813, “The House That Will Not Stand” is loosely adapted from Garcia Lorca’s “House of Bernalda Alba” and examines the lives of the free women of color who became millionaires within the system of plaçage (the common-law marriages of white men and black Creole women) and fought against racial oppression.
“I am so excited to be working with Diane and the Mwm team to transform ‘The House That Will Not Stand’ into a film,” said Gardley. “I can’t wait to re-visit these characters and share more of their lives and world.
Mwm producers Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane and producer Diane Nabatoff are on board Gardley’s historical comic drama. The play won Gardley the 2015 Glickman Award and was a finalist for the 2015 Kennedy Prize.
Set in Fauberg Treme in New Orleans in 1813, “The House That Will Not Stand” is loosely adapted from Garcia Lorca’s “House of Bernalda Alba” and examines the lives of the free women of color who became millionaires within the system of plaçage (the common-law marriages of white men and black Creole women) and fought against racial oppression.
“I am so excited to be working with Diane and the Mwm team to transform ‘The House That Will Not Stand’ into a film,” said Gardley. “I can’t wait to re-visit these characters and share more of their lives and world.
- 11/27/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Mwm Studios (formerly OddLot Entertainment) is giving the feature adaptation treatment to the Off Broadway play, The House That Will Not Stand, a historical comic drama by Marcus Gardley, who is also penning the screenplay.
Set in Faubourg Treme in New Orleans 1813, the stage production is loosely inspired by Garcia Lorca’s TThe House of Bernarda Alba that examines the fascinating, mostly unknown, lives of the free women of color who became millionaires within the system of plaçage (the common-law marriages of white men and black Creole women) and fought against racial oppression pre-Civil War.
After its initial run at the New York Stage and Film Company in 2012, the play debuted at the New York Theatre Workshop earlier this year. It earned Gardley the 2015 Glickman Award and was a finalist for the 2015 Kennedy Prize.
Mwm’s Gigi Pritzker (Hell or High Water) and Rachel Shane (Genius), as well as producer...
Set in Faubourg Treme in New Orleans 1813, the stage production is loosely inspired by Garcia Lorca’s TThe House of Bernarda Alba that examines the fascinating, mostly unknown, lives of the free women of color who became millionaires within the system of plaçage (the common-law marriages of white men and black Creole women) and fought against racial oppression pre-Civil War.
After its initial run at the New York Stage and Film Company in 2012, the play debuted at the New York Theatre Workshop earlier this year. It earned Gardley the 2015 Glickman Award and was a finalist for the 2015 Kennedy Prize.
Mwm’s Gigi Pritzker (Hell or High Water) and Rachel Shane (Genius), as well as producer...
- 11/27/2018
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Mwm Studios is developing a feature adaptation of Marcus Gardley's play The House That Will Not Stand. Mwm's Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane will develop the project with producer Diane Nabatoff.
The House That Will Not Stand, which premiered this summer at the New York Theater Workshop, is a historical comic drama set in 1813 in Faubourg Treme in New Orleans. Loosely inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s play The House of Bernarda Alba, the story centers on the lives of the free women of color who became millionaires within the system of plaçage — the common-law marriages of white men ...
The House That Will Not Stand, which premiered this summer at the New York Theater Workshop, is a historical comic drama set in 1813 in Faubourg Treme in New Orleans. Loosely inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s play The House of Bernarda Alba, the story centers on the lives of the free women of color who became millionaires within the system of plaçage — the common-law marriages of white men ...
- 11/27/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mwm Studios is developing a feature adaptation of Marcus Gardley's play The House That Will Not Stand. Mwm's Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane will develop the project with producer Diane Nabatoff.
The House That Will Not Stand, which premiered this summer at the New York Theater Workshop, is a historical comic drama set in 1813 in Faubourg Treme in New Orleans. Loosely inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s play The House of Bernarda Alba, the story centers on the lives of the free women of color who became millionaires within the system of plaçage — the common-law marriages of white men ...
The House That Will Not Stand, which premiered this summer at the New York Theater Workshop, is a historical comic drama set in 1813 in Faubourg Treme in New Orleans. Loosely inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s play The House of Bernarda Alba, the story centers on the lives of the free women of color who became millionaires within the system of plaçage — the common-law marriages of white men ...
- 11/27/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Monopoly enthusiasts will one day receive their money’s worth with the unknown backstory to their beloved game. Deadline reports that Big Beach’s Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf will produce alongside Diane Nabatoff (Dancing in Jaffa) and have set Howard A. Rodman to adapt not one, but a pair of books: Mary Pilon’s best selling non-fiction book The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Board Game and Ralph Anspach’s The Billion Dollar Monopoly (R) Swindle.
Gist: This is about the unknown David and Goliath story of S.F. State Universal economist Ralph Anspach, who invented the game Anti-Monopoly as a cry against rampant capitalism, and was promptly sued by Parker Brothers and was shored up against the game invented by Elizabeth Magie, a stenographer who hatched The Landlords Game to lash out against slumlords and other monopolists of the early 20th Century.
Gist: This is about the unknown David and Goliath story of S.F. State Universal economist Ralph Anspach, who invented the game Anti-Monopoly as a cry against rampant capitalism, and was promptly sued by Parker Brothers and was shored up against the game invented by Elizabeth Magie, a stenographer who hatched The Landlords Game to lash out against slumlords and other monopolists of the early 20th Century.
- 10/27/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: Big Beach is developing a film about the origins of the most popular board game in history – Monopoly. Big Beach producers Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf have partnered with Diane Nabatoff to produce a film based on Mary Pilon's best selling non-fiction book The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Board Game. The book told the unknown story behind the iconic game and the David and Goliath story of S.F. State University…...
- 10/27/2015
- Deadline
Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t… resist a good dance number?
NBC is developing an hour-long musical drama exec-produced by Friday Night Lights/Parenthood boss Jason Katims, our sister site Deadline reports.
RelatedParks and Rec Producers Re-Team for Interracial Family Comedy at NBC
Created by Julia Brownell — who wrote for Parenthood and Katims’ short-lived comedy About a Boy — the potential series focuses on a mother and daughter who run a funeral home and approach their memorial services as positive celebrations of life, complete with song and dance.
The project is inspired by the real-life Boyd Funeral Home in South Los Angeles,...
NBC is developing an hour-long musical drama exec-produced by Friday Night Lights/Parenthood boss Jason Katims, our sister site Deadline reports.
RelatedParks and Rec Producers Re-Team for Interracial Family Comedy at NBC
Created by Julia Brownell — who wrote for Parenthood and Katims’ short-lived comedy About a Boy — the potential series focuses on a mother and daughter who run a funeral home and approach their memorial services as positive celebrations of life, complete with song and dance.
The project is inspired by the real-life Boyd Funeral Home in South Los Angeles,...
- 9/9/2015
- TVLine.com
Hilla Medalia returns to her award winning directorial status of documentary filmmaking with the film Dancing In Jaffa, a story about ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine teaching children to dance in his hometown of Jaffa, Israel. Dulaine marvelously picks his top dancers from the three dancing schools he started to compete together in citywide championships. Often times he would pair Palestinians with Jews, a common racial problem that Israel is facing today. In doing so, he often forces the children as well as their parents to put their faith to the test by willingly competing with each other instead of against.
The 100 minute documentary, in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, tells the story of such children learning to set aside their differences in order to compete in what they believe is right. It combines drama with humor, all based on the everyday lives of these children doing what they love most.
Well known for her documentaries,...
The 100 minute documentary, in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, tells the story of such children learning to set aside their differences in order to compete in what they believe is right. It combines drama with humor, all based on the everyday lives of these children doing what they love most.
Well known for her documentaries,...
- 2/20/2014
- by Catherina Gioino
- Nerdly
Sundance Selects has acquired North American rights to Hilla Medalia’s documentary Dancing In Jaffa following its world premiere at Tribeca. Separately Doppelganger Releasing has acquired Black Out and Image Entertainment announced it will release the found footage thriller Evidence this summer.
Diane Nabatoff, Neta Zwebner-Zaibert and Medalia produced Dancing In Jaffa [pictured], the story of a ballroom dancer who sets up classes for ethnically diverse students in the Israeli city.
Morgan Spurlock and Jeremy Chilnick, La Toya Jackson and Jeffré Phillips and Nigel Lythgoe served as executive producers alongside Dan Setton, J Arnhold, Robert Machinist and Jonathan Shukat.
Sundance Selects/IFC Films negotiated the deal with Preferred Content and UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers. K5 handles international sales.
Doppelganger Releasing has picked up Us rights to Arne Toonen’s Dutch crime comedy Black Out, set to screen at Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal in July. William Schopf of parent...
Diane Nabatoff, Neta Zwebner-Zaibert and Medalia produced Dancing In Jaffa [pictured], the story of a ballroom dancer who sets up classes for ethnically diverse students in the Israeli city.
Morgan Spurlock and Jeremy Chilnick, La Toya Jackson and Jeffré Phillips and Nigel Lythgoe served as executive producers alongside Dan Setton, J Arnhold, Robert Machinist and Jonathan Shukat.
Sundance Selects/IFC Films negotiated the deal with Preferred Content and UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers. K5 handles international sales.
Doppelganger Releasing has picked up Us rights to Arne Toonen’s Dutch crime comedy Black Out, set to screen at Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal in July. William Schopf of parent...
- 6/18/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
David O. Russell has his new movie "Silver Linings Playbook" set for a November release after its premiere in Toronto, and next up the filmmaker will be dipping his toe in the television world. According to Deadline, the punchy auteur's attached to direct a new legal drama that's just been sold to CBS. The untitled project is from Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions, and is scripted by "Game Change" screenwriter (and perennial "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" punching bag) Danny Strong -- both Russell and Strong will executive produce along with De Niro, Rosenthal and Diane Nabatoff. Read More: Writer Danny Strong on 'Game Change' and the Difference Between His Sarah Palin and Tina Fey's The series is inspired by the real-life New York father/daughter defense attorneys Murray and Stacey Richman, and will be set in a fictionalized version of the Richmans’ Bronx firm,...
- 8/16/2012
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Game Change writer Danny Strong, The Fighter director David O. Russell and Oscar winner Robert De Niro have teamed for a legal drama series inspired by a famous New York father/daughter lawyer duo, which has sold to CBS. The project hails from De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Prods. and CBS TV Studios. Strong is writing, Russell is set to direct, with the two executive producing alongside De Niro, Rosenthal and Diane Nabatoff. The drama is inspired by the father-and-daughter defense attorneys Murray and Stacey Richman. It will center on a fictionalized version of the Richmans’ Bronx firm, where clients as notorious on the street as they are on Page Six. In the almost 50 years of practicing law, Murray Richman, nickname “Don’t Worry Murray,” has worked for clients ranging from hip-hop stars like Jay-z to the upper echelon of the Genovese and Lucchese crime families to...
- 8/16/2012
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
When Viola Davis is cast in a role, we are more than likely to get a commanding performance from the actress, and no role is as commanding as a powerful congresswoman.
Variety says that Davis is currently developing a project based on the life of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan with with director Paris Barclay, and would produce with her husband Julius Tennon and Barclay. Shelly Glasser and Diane Nabatoff are also on board to produce the project.
Paris Qualles (The Rosa Parks Story) is currently writing the screenplay which is based on an adaptation of Mary Beth Rogers‘ book Barbara Jordan: American Hero. Sure Jordan isn’t a household name, but amongst the political spectrum, she is an icon.
Davis’ next roles include a leading role opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal in this fall’s Won’t Back Down, as well as supporting roles in Ender’s Game and Beautiful Creatures. But...
Variety says that Davis is currently developing a project based on the life of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan with with director Paris Barclay, and would produce with her husband Julius Tennon and Barclay. Shelly Glasser and Diane Nabatoff are also on board to produce the project.
Paris Qualles (The Rosa Parks Story) is currently writing the screenplay which is based on an adaptation of Mary Beth Rogers‘ book Barbara Jordan: American Hero. Sure Jordan isn’t a household name, but amongst the political spectrum, she is an icon.
Davis’ next roles include a leading role opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal in this fall’s Won’t Back Down, as well as supporting roles in Ender’s Game and Beautiful Creatures. But...
- 3/10/2012
- by Mike Lee
- FusedFilm
Even though she narrowly missed out on a Best Actress Oscar statue a few weeks ago, Viola Davis is still in pretty much the best position of her career, with more name recognition, even more prestige, and a lot of people who think if they put her in a good role, the Oscar could finally be right around the corner. But Davis isn't going to take this moment in the sun just to work for somebody else-- she's taking matters into her own hands. Variety reports that Davis is considering a role as Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, in a film she would produce with her husband, Julius Tennon. They've teamed up with producers Shelly Glasser and Diane Nabatoff to acquire the rights to the book Barbara Jordan: American Hero, and they're all developing the film along with Paris Barclay, a director whose career has mostly been in TV, directing...
- 3/9/2012
- cinemablend.com
Viola Davis is producing with an eye to starring in a biopic of African-American political pioneer Barbara Jordan reports Variety.
The story follows Jordan's rise from a poor Houston neighborhood to an elected member of Congress and an influential figure in liberal politics, especially during the Watergate hearings when she addressed Congress on the impeachment of President Nixon. Later in her life she battled multiple sclerosis.
Davis and her husband Julius Tennon will produce the film along with Paris Barclay, Shelly Glasser and Diane Nabatoff. The latter two have optioned the film rights to Mary Beth Rogers' biography "Barbara Jordan: American Hero" which scribe Paris Qualles is adapting.
Barclay will direct, he and Davis previously worked on the CBS medical drama "City of Angels" a little over a decade ago.
The story follows Jordan's rise from a poor Houston neighborhood to an elected member of Congress and an influential figure in liberal politics, especially during the Watergate hearings when she addressed Congress on the impeachment of President Nixon. Later in her life she battled multiple sclerosis.
Davis and her husband Julius Tennon will produce the film along with Paris Barclay, Shelly Glasser and Diane Nabatoff. The latter two have optioned the film rights to Mary Beth Rogers' biography "Barbara Jordan: American Hero" which scribe Paris Qualles is adapting.
Barclay will direct, he and Davis previously worked on the CBS medical drama "City of Angels" a little over a decade ago.
- 3/9/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Exclusive: TNT has given a pilot order to Scent of the Missing, a drama project co-written and executive produced by CSI: Crime Scene Investigation executive producer/showrunner Carol Mendelsohn and executive produced by Barry Josephson. Based on the book by Susannah Charleson, the project, produced by CBS TV Studios, centers on an adrenaline junkie leader of a canine search-and-rescue team assists various law enforcement agencies with her best friend and partner, a golden retriever. Mendelsohn co-wrote the script with CSI writers/co-executive producers Melissa Byer and Treena Hancock. The three are executive producing with Josephson, who had optioned the book and taken it to Mendelsohn, and Mendelsohn’s development executive Julie Weitz. Diane Nabatoff and Shelly Glasser will serve as co-executive producers. The project was originally announced in May as part of TNT’s development slate. Scent of the Missing joins Western Gateway, which was given a cast-contingent pilot order by TNT last month.
- 9/7/2011
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
TNT and TBS, which staged their Upfront presentation today in New York, are making bold moves to bolster their remarkably strong foundations in original programming. The networks are developing extensive new lineups of scripted and unscripted series and making a new push into half-hour comedy in partnership with some of the top talents in the industry, from award-winning actors to acclaimed producers, writers and best-selling authors.
This year marks the beginning of production of the final season of the blockbuster hit, The Closer, starring Emmy® winner Kyra Sedgwick. TNT confirmed today that it has ordered a 10-episode season of Major Crimes, a series set in the Los Angeles Police Department that promises to become television’s next great crime drama. The seventh and final season of The Closer will include 15 episodes in 2011 and six in summer 2012, leading into the launch of Major Crimes, starring Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica). McDonnell has...
This year marks the beginning of production of the final season of the blockbuster hit, The Closer, starring Emmy® winner Kyra Sedgwick. TNT confirmed today that it has ordered a 10-episode season of Major Crimes, a series set in the Los Angeles Police Department that promises to become television’s next great crime drama. The seventh and final season of The Closer will include 15 episodes in 2011 and six in summer 2012, leading into the launch of Major Crimes, starring Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica). McDonnell has...
- 5/18/2011
- by Kevin Coll
- FusedFilm
It looks like Andy Richter will be stepping from behind the podium on Conan to another podium (I am guessing) for a new game show on TBS entitled Pyramid. The show is reportedly a modern-day take on the iconic game show that began asThe $10,000 Pyramid.
I really enjoye watching Men of A Certain Age, and highly recommend it. The new shows don't really catch my interest yet, aside from Pyramid. Check out the full lineup below and share your thoughts on what shows you are most interested in seeing.
TNT scripted series in development
Untitled Kip Koenig/John Wells Productions Project – Set against the backdrop of the Pacific Northwest, this drama follows a family of cops who uncover the mystical and often crime-ridden world of a small town where things aren’t as they appear. The project comes to TNT from Warner Horizon Television, Kip Koenig (Grey’s Anatomy) and John Wells Productions (Southland,...
I really enjoye watching Men of A Certain Age, and highly recommend it. The new shows don't really catch my interest yet, aside from Pyramid. Check out the full lineup below and share your thoughts on what shows you are most interested in seeing.
TNT scripted series in development
Untitled Kip Koenig/John Wells Productions Project – Set against the backdrop of the Pacific Northwest, this drama follows a family of cops who uncover the mystical and often crime-ridden world of a small town where things aren’t as they appear. The project comes to TNT from Warner Horizon Television, Kip Koenig (Grey’s Anatomy) and John Wells Productions (Southland,...
- 5/18/2011
- by Tiberius
- GeekTyrant
Uma Thurman will star in the indie drama "Girl Soldier" for Caspian Pictures, portraying a cleric who helped rescue 140 schoolgirls abducted in Uganda.According to Variety, Diane Nabatoff ("Narc"), Allan Mindel ("My Own Private Idaho") and Will Raee are producing, with Raee to direct from a script by Stephanie Pinola and Karen Croner. Story's based on Kathy Cook's book "Stolen Angels," which follows the 1996 raid at a boarding school, where a band of armed rebels abducted young girls to turn them into soldiers and sex slaves.A teacher at the school, Sister Caroline, tracked the rebels back to their camp to demand the girls' release; 110 were returned to the nun, who then began a crusade over the next few...
- 7/21/2009
- by Adnan Tezer
- Monsters and Critics
- As long as this doesn't turn out to be the next Beyond Borders (the Angelina Jolie starrer), then consider this as a a dramatic stroke that might benefit Uma Thurman's career. Variety reports that Thurman will topline Girl Soldier, the true tale based on Kathy Cook's book "Stolen Angels" which will be helmed by Will Raee. Raee is one of the three producing partners on the film - he is joined by Diane Nabatoff and Allan Mindel. Production would begin at the start of 2010. Scripted by Stephanie Pinola and Karen Croner, this follows the 1996 raid at a boarding school, where a band of armed rebels abducted young girls to turn them into soldiers and sex slaves. A teacher at the school, Sister Caroline, tracked the rebels back to their camp to demand the girls' release; 110 were returned to the nun, who then began a crusade over the
- 7/21/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Variety reports that Uma Thurman will star in the independent drama Girl Soldier for Caspian Pictures, portraying a cleric who helped rescue 140 schoolgirls abducted in Uganda. Producing are Diane Nabatoff ( Narc ), Allan Mindel ( My Own Private Idaho ) and Will Raee, with Raee to direct from a script by Stephanie Pinola and Karen Croner. Producers are eyeing a first-quarter shoot. The story is based on Kathy Cook's book "Stolen Angels," which follows the 1996 raid at a boarding school, where a band of armed rebels abducted young girls to turn them into soldiers and sex slaves. A teacher at the school, Sister Caroline, tracked the rebels back to their camp to demand the girls' release; 110 were returned to the nun, who then began a crusade over the next few years...
- 7/21/2009
- Comingsoon.net
George Clooney will earn his stripes with the Warner Bros. family. The actor-director-producer has signed on to two high-profile projects with Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Independent Pictures.
First, Clooney is set to star in and produce White Jazz, an adaptation of a James Ellroy novel, for WIP. He then will reteam with his Ocean's Eleven producer Jerry Weintraub to direct the heist movie Belmont Boys for Warners.
Jazz, which Clooney will produce with his Smokehouse producing partner Grant Heslov, will be directed by Joe Carnahan from a script by his brother Matthew Carnahan (The Kingdom). Jazz is the last volume of what is known as Ellroy's L.A. quartet of crime novels, which includes L.A. Confidential, The Big Nowhere and The Black Dahlia.
In Jazz, Clooney will star as a corrupt police lieutenant assigned to a potentially explosive case for the Los Angeles Police Department during a time when the department is under investigation for corruption.
Patrick Cheh, Diane Nabatoff, Clark Peterson and Michelle Grace will produce the project.
Jazz is a Cherry Road co-production, with the company financing the development of the project.
First, Clooney is set to star in and produce White Jazz, an adaptation of a James Ellroy novel, for WIP. He then will reteam with his Ocean's Eleven producer Jerry Weintraub to direct the heist movie Belmont Boys for Warners.
Jazz, which Clooney will produce with his Smokehouse producing partner Grant Heslov, will be directed by Joe Carnahan from a script by his brother Matthew Carnahan (The Kingdom). Jazz is the last volume of what is known as Ellroy's L.A. quartet of crime novels, which includes L.A. Confidential, The Big Nowhere and The Black Dahlia.
In Jazz, Clooney will star as a corrupt police lieutenant assigned to a potentially explosive case for the Los Angeles Police Department during a time when the department is under investigation for corruption.
Patrick Cheh, Diane Nabatoff, Clark Peterson and Michelle Grace will produce the project.
Jazz is a Cherry Road co-production, with the company financing the development of the project.
- 11/30/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Essentially "Mad Hot Ballroom" for mallrats, "Take the Lead" takes its lead from the life of Pierre Dulaine, the debonair founder of the popular program that brought ballroom dancing to New York inner-city public schools.
Upping the ages of the participants to high school level in order to bring more mature issues into the mix, veteran music video director Liz Friedlander and screenwriter Dianne Houston have come up with a hip-hop-flavored hybrid that attempts to rescore the classic American Songbook with street beats, but the resulting mash-up fails to dazzle on the dance floor.
Still, it's considerably more energetic than the anemic Richard Gere-Jennifer Lopez version of "Shall We Dance?" and given a well-timed release that rides smartly on the coattails of the ridiculously successful "Dancing With the Stars", this New Line presentation definitely has a leg up with female-skewing audiences.
Taking her cue from a segment on CBS' "The Early Show" featuring Dulaine that predated the release of "Mad Hot Ballroom", scripter Houston has tailored a workable scenario for star Antonio Banderas, who plays the dance teacher/life mentor with an appealing combination of easy charisma and convincing passion.
When he first pitches the concept of ballroom dance instruction to no-nonsense principal Augustine James (Alfre Woodard), who runs her high school with the eagle-eyed authority of a prison warden, Dulaine is met with more than a little wide-eyed incredulity.
But the short-staffed James decides to test Dulaine's mettle by assigning him to detention hall duty, where an assortment of badass Sweathogs greet his Dinah Washington and Lena Horne records with unsurprising disdain.
Gradually, though -- especially after witnessing Dulaine and one of the adult students from his academy engage in a particularly heated tango -- the kids agree to meet him halfway, merging their hip-hop style with his traditional dance moves to come up with something fresh.
Unfortunately, as kinetically directed by Friedlander, that fusion only creates a lot of confusion as the film struggles to sustain a rhythm while bouncing back and forth between the uplifting dance sequences (choreographed by JoAnn Jansen) and the dramatic element going down in the mean streets of New York (played, yet again, by Toronto, aka the Big Maple).
The production is not without its spirited numbers, but when it looks like it's going to finally take flight, it ends up taking too many false steps, especially during an especially choppy finale.
Things hold together longer than they would have without Banderas' commanding, committed performance, and while it's easy to pick out the dancing actors from the acting dancers, his young co-stars -- led by Rob Brown ("Finding Forrester") and engaging newcomer Yaya DaCosta -- do their best to keep it real, at least on the emotive front.
Take the Lead
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema presents a Tiara Blu Films production
Credits:
Director: Liz Friedlander
Screenwriter: Dianne Houston
Producers: Diane Nabatoff, Michelle Grace, Christopher Godsick
Executive producers: Toby Emmerich
Matt Moore, Mark Kaufman, Ray Liotta, Matthew Hart
Director of photography: Alex Nepomniaschy
Production designer: Paul Denham Austerberry
Editor: Robert Ivison
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Music: Aaron Zigman and Swizz Beatz
Choreographer: JoAnn Jansen
Cast:
Pierre Dulaine: Antonio Banderas
Rock: Rob Brown
LaRhette: Yaya DaCosta
Ramos: Dante Basco
Mr. Temple: John Ortiz
Augustine James
Alfre Woodard.
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 117 minutes...
Upping the ages of the participants to high school level in order to bring more mature issues into the mix, veteran music video director Liz Friedlander and screenwriter Dianne Houston have come up with a hip-hop-flavored hybrid that attempts to rescore the classic American Songbook with street beats, but the resulting mash-up fails to dazzle on the dance floor.
Still, it's considerably more energetic than the anemic Richard Gere-Jennifer Lopez version of "Shall We Dance?" and given a well-timed release that rides smartly on the coattails of the ridiculously successful "Dancing With the Stars", this New Line presentation definitely has a leg up with female-skewing audiences.
Taking her cue from a segment on CBS' "The Early Show" featuring Dulaine that predated the release of "Mad Hot Ballroom", scripter Houston has tailored a workable scenario for star Antonio Banderas, who plays the dance teacher/life mentor with an appealing combination of easy charisma and convincing passion.
When he first pitches the concept of ballroom dance instruction to no-nonsense principal Augustine James (Alfre Woodard), who runs her high school with the eagle-eyed authority of a prison warden, Dulaine is met with more than a little wide-eyed incredulity.
But the short-staffed James decides to test Dulaine's mettle by assigning him to detention hall duty, where an assortment of badass Sweathogs greet his Dinah Washington and Lena Horne records with unsurprising disdain.
Gradually, though -- especially after witnessing Dulaine and one of the adult students from his academy engage in a particularly heated tango -- the kids agree to meet him halfway, merging their hip-hop style with his traditional dance moves to come up with something fresh.
Unfortunately, as kinetically directed by Friedlander, that fusion only creates a lot of confusion as the film struggles to sustain a rhythm while bouncing back and forth between the uplifting dance sequences (choreographed by JoAnn Jansen) and the dramatic element going down in the mean streets of New York (played, yet again, by Toronto, aka the Big Maple).
The production is not without its spirited numbers, but when it looks like it's going to finally take flight, it ends up taking too many false steps, especially during an especially choppy finale.
Things hold together longer than they would have without Banderas' commanding, committed performance, and while it's easy to pick out the dancing actors from the acting dancers, his young co-stars -- led by Rob Brown ("Finding Forrester") and engaging newcomer Yaya DaCosta -- do their best to keep it real, at least on the emotive front.
Take the Lead
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema presents a Tiara Blu Films production
Credits:
Director: Liz Friedlander
Screenwriter: Dianne Houston
Producers: Diane Nabatoff, Michelle Grace, Christopher Godsick
Executive producers: Toby Emmerich
Matt Moore, Mark Kaufman, Ray Liotta, Matthew Hart
Director of photography: Alex Nepomniaschy
Production designer: Paul Denham Austerberry
Editor: Robert Ivison
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Music: Aaron Zigman and Swizz Beatz
Choreographer: JoAnn Jansen
Cast:
Pierre Dulaine: Antonio Banderas
Rock: Rob Brown
LaRhette: Yaya DaCosta
Ramos: Dante Basco
Mr. Temple: John Ortiz
Augustine James
Alfre Woodard.
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 117 minutes...
Antonio Banderas is putting on his dance shoes for New Line Cinema's Take the Lead. Liz Friedlander is directing, while Diane Nabatoff, Chris Godsick and Michelle Grace produce. Inspired by the true story of international ballroom dancer Pierre Dulane, Banderas will star as a former professional dancer who volunteers to teach dance in the New York public school system. When his ballroom methods clash with his students' hip-hop instincts, he teams up with them to create a new style of dance and becomes their mentor in the process. Dianne Houston wrote the script.
'Very Bad' Sets a Nightmare Scenario / Grisly tale of Vegas bachelor party turning to disaster reveals thin plot
By Duane Byrge
TORONTO -- Boys will be boys -- especially in Vegas -- in this acerbic, savage comedy about a bachelor-party weekend that turns into a nightmare. With an appealing and talented cast including Christian Slater and Cameron Diaz, this PolyGram Filmed Entertainment release, playing the Toronto International Film Festival, should draw some initial appeal among males, but its grisly nature will likely turn off mainstreamers. This is a love-it-or-hate-it type of outing.
In this dark escapade, square suburban dude Kyle Fisher (Jon Favreau) is set to marry Laura Diaz), the girl of his dreams, despite her high-maintenance nature. Kyle's favorite bad-apple buddy, Boyd (Slater), arranges one last bash in Las Vegas for his bashful pal, including, of course, a stripper who supplements her earnings with other talents. These middle-class squares head from their suburban Southern California neighborhood for a wild weekend on the Strip. Things get quickly rowdy and out of control, and in a delirious fit of passion, Kyle accidentally impales the stripper on a bathroom fixture. Good-boy Kyle has just killed a young woman. But for bad-boy Boyd, it's a simple question of situational ethics: Bury the stripper in the desert. Why should they ruin their lives for one crazy action? He convinces them of this wisdom.
Essentially, you've got "Lord of the Flies" hurled into "Animal House". Screenwriter-director Peter Berg undeniably fires off some lethal and decadently funny salvos, but the plot soon wears thin. It becomes an exercise in ghoulishness as the fellows, owing to their own craziness and sense of doom, escalate the killings, getting in deeper and deeper.
The film's best feature is the choice casting, with Slater shining as the wily leader of this debauchery. Diaz is hilarious as a very anal bride-to-be, and Daniel Stern, with all his twitches and tics, is sympathetic as the guy who is downright paranoid about getting caught. Favreau is also well-chosen, projecting a naivete and weakness intrinsic to the role.
While there are indeed some thoughtful, provocative moral quandaries in Berg's script, the film is played mainly for noisy, low-level farce; after a while, it wears repetitively thin. Praise to the production crew; they've stoked it with some very funny stuff, most prominently costume designer Terry Dresbach's loud outfits, perfect for the raucous mayhem that ensues.
VERY BAD THINGS
PolyGram Films
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment presents
in association with Initial Entertainment Group
an Interscope Communications production
in association with Ballpark Prods.
A Peter Berg film
Credits: Producers: Michael Schiffer, Diane Nabatoff, Cindy Cowan; Screenwriter-director: Peter Berg; Executive producers: Ted Field, Scott Kroopf, Michael Helfant, Christian Slater; Line producer: Laura Greenlee; Director of photography: David Hennings; Production designer: Dina Lipton; Editor: Dan Lebenthal; Music: Stewart Copeland; Costume designer: Terry Dresbach. Cast: Robert Boyd: Christian Slater; Laura Garrety: Cameron Diaz; Adam Berkow: Daniel Stern; Kyle Fisher: Jon Favreau; Lois Berkow: Jeanne Tripplehorn; Michael Berkow: Jeremy Piven; Charles Moore: Leland Orser. MPAA rating: R. Color/stereo. Running time -- 101 minutes...
By Duane Byrge
TORONTO -- Boys will be boys -- especially in Vegas -- in this acerbic, savage comedy about a bachelor-party weekend that turns into a nightmare. With an appealing and talented cast including Christian Slater and Cameron Diaz, this PolyGram Filmed Entertainment release, playing the Toronto International Film Festival, should draw some initial appeal among males, but its grisly nature will likely turn off mainstreamers. This is a love-it-or-hate-it type of outing.
In this dark escapade, square suburban dude Kyle Fisher (Jon Favreau) is set to marry Laura Diaz), the girl of his dreams, despite her high-maintenance nature. Kyle's favorite bad-apple buddy, Boyd (Slater), arranges one last bash in Las Vegas for his bashful pal, including, of course, a stripper who supplements her earnings with other talents. These middle-class squares head from their suburban Southern California neighborhood for a wild weekend on the Strip. Things get quickly rowdy and out of control, and in a delirious fit of passion, Kyle accidentally impales the stripper on a bathroom fixture. Good-boy Kyle has just killed a young woman. But for bad-boy Boyd, it's a simple question of situational ethics: Bury the stripper in the desert. Why should they ruin their lives for one crazy action? He convinces them of this wisdom.
Essentially, you've got "Lord of the Flies" hurled into "Animal House". Screenwriter-director Peter Berg undeniably fires off some lethal and decadently funny salvos, but the plot soon wears thin. It becomes an exercise in ghoulishness as the fellows, owing to their own craziness and sense of doom, escalate the killings, getting in deeper and deeper.
The film's best feature is the choice casting, with Slater shining as the wily leader of this debauchery. Diaz is hilarious as a very anal bride-to-be, and Daniel Stern, with all his twitches and tics, is sympathetic as the guy who is downright paranoid about getting caught. Favreau is also well-chosen, projecting a naivete and weakness intrinsic to the role.
While there are indeed some thoughtful, provocative moral quandaries in Berg's script, the film is played mainly for noisy, low-level farce; after a while, it wears repetitively thin. Praise to the production crew; they've stoked it with some very funny stuff, most prominently costume designer Terry Dresbach's loud outfits, perfect for the raucous mayhem that ensues.
VERY BAD THINGS
PolyGram Films
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment presents
in association with Initial Entertainment Group
an Interscope Communications production
in association with Ballpark Prods.
A Peter Berg film
Credits: Producers: Michael Schiffer, Diane Nabatoff, Cindy Cowan; Screenwriter-director: Peter Berg; Executive producers: Ted Field, Scott Kroopf, Michael Helfant, Christian Slater; Line producer: Laura Greenlee; Director of photography: David Hennings; Production designer: Dina Lipton; Editor: Dan Lebenthal; Music: Stewart Copeland; Costume designer: Terry Dresbach. Cast: Robert Boyd: Christian Slater; Laura Garrety: Cameron Diaz; Adam Berkow: Daniel Stern; Kyle Fisher: Jon Favreau; Lois Berkow: Jeanne Tripplehorn; Michael Berkow: Jeremy Piven; Charles Moore: Leland Orser. MPAA rating: R. Color/stereo. Running time -- 101 minutes...
- 9/15/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
While the premise sounds ripe -- a privileged '30s-era feminist writer pays a young man to sire her child, with the blessing of her sterile husband -- "The Proposition" (formerly "Shakespeare's Sister") is a ponderous slab of heavy-handed poetic justice dished out by unsympathetic characters in borrowed Merchant-Ivory attire.
Receiving its world premiere at the recent Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the picture will be a doubtful boxoffice proposition for PolyGram despite a high-caliber cast fronted by Kenneth Branagh, Madeleine Stowe and William Hurt.
Stowe is very much in her period element as Eleanor Barrett, the emancipated scribe in question who seeks guidance from the writings of Virginia Woolf as well as a child from her devoted, wealthy husband Arthur (hurt). When it's learned that he can't deliver the goods, the couple hires Roger Martin Neil Patrick Harris), a young, hesitant surrogate, to do the honors.
But when Eleanor becomes pregnant, said stud goes from awkward to arrogant to downright obsessed, threatening to scandalize the staid Beacon Hill establishment by revealing their little business arrangement.
Not wanting to reveal too much more, suffice it to say someone makes sure Martin goes away permanently, while the new Catholic priest (Branagh) mysteriously ducks the couple's repeated dinner invitations.
Screenwriter Rick Ramage lays the intrigue and malice on pretty thick, while director Lesli Linka Glatter ("Now and Then") gives everything the same claustrophobic, purposeful weight. Given the heady subject matter, a little irony would have been most helpful. Add the wrap-around, redundant narration (most likely added after the fact), and the picture goes from merely unsuccessful to quite irritating.
Try as they might to inject some warm-blooded humanity into their mopey, unappealing characters, the cast faces an impossible task. Even Blythe Danner, as the Barretts' dedicated secretary and confidante, can't do much to conceal the fact that her character is virtually a carbon copy of "Rebecca"'s Mrs. Danvers.
The same goes for the technical aspects, which while respectable have a hollow, imitative feel, from Peter Sova's meaningful camerawork to composer Stephen Endelman's string-pulling strings.
THE PROPOSITION
PolyGram Films
An Interscope Communications production
A Lesli Linka Glatter film
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter
Producers: Ted Field, Diane Nabatoff, Scott Kroopf
Screenwriter: Rick Ramage
Executive producer: Lata Ryan
Director of photography: Peter Sova
Production designer: David Brisbin
Editor: Jacqueline Cambas
Costume designer: Anna Sheppard
Music: Stephen Endelman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Father Michael McKinnon: Kenneth Branagh
Arthur Barrett: William Hurt
Eleanor Barrett: Madeleine Stowe
Syril Danning: Blythe Danner
Hannibal Thurman: Robert Loggia
Roger Martin: Neil Patrick Harris
Father Dryer: Josef Sommer
Running time -- 114 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Receiving its world premiere at the recent Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the picture will be a doubtful boxoffice proposition for PolyGram despite a high-caliber cast fronted by Kenneth Branagh, Madeleine Stowe and William Hurt.
Stowe is very much in her period element as Eleanor Barrett, the emancipated scribe in question who seeks guidance from the writings of Virginia Woolf as well as a child from her devoted, wealthy husband Arthur (hurt). When it's learned that he can't deliver the goods, the couple hires Roger Martin Neil Patrick Harris), a young, hesitant surrogate, to do the honors.
But when Eleanor becomes pregnant, said stud goes from awkward to arrogant to downright obsessed, threatening to scandalize the staid Beacon Hill establishment by revealing their little business arrangement.
Not wanting to reveal too much more, suffice it to say someone makes sure Martin goes away permanently, while the new Catholic priest (Branagh) mysteriously ducks the couple's repeated dinner invitations.
Screenwriter Rick Ramage lays the intrigue and malice on pretty thick, while director Lesli Linka Glatter ("Now and Then") gives everything the same claustrophobic, purposeful weight. Given the heady subject matter, a little irony would have been most helpful. Add the wrap-around, redundant narration (most likely added after the fact), and the picture goes from merely unsuccessful to quite irritating.
Try as they might to inject some warm-blooded humanity into their mopey, unappealing characters, the cast faces an impossible task. Even Blythe Danner, as the Barretts' dedicated secretary and confidante, can't do much to conceal the fact that her character is virtually a carbon copy of "Rebecca"'s Mrs. Danvers.
The same goes for the technical aspects, which while respectable have a hollow, imitative feel, from Peter Sova's meaningful camerawork to composer Stephen Endelman's string-pulling strings.
THE PROPOSITION
PolyGram Films
An Interscope Communications production
A Lesli Linka Glatter film
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter
Producers: Ted Field, Diane Nabatoff, Scott Kroopf
Screenwriter: Rick Ramage
Executive producer: Lata Ryan
Director of photography: Peter Sova
Production designer: David Brisbin
Editor: Jacqueline Cambas
Costume designer: Anna Sheppard
Music: Stephen Endelman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Father Michael McKinnon: Kenneth Branagh
Arthur Barrett: William Hurt
Eleanor Barrett: Madeleine Stowe
Syril Danning: Blythe Danner
Hannibal Thurman: Robert Loggia
Roger Martin: Neil Patrick Harris
Father Dryer: Josef Sommer
Running time -- 114 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/18/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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