Below the Fold: Our Weekend Wrap-Up Has No Harvey for Spielberg, Moneyball Gets Director, New Line Nutcracker!
Harvey Project Dumped by Spielberg
Steven Spielberg has withdrawn from his remake of the classic film, Harvey. He spent the past half year developing the pic, his first directing vehicle for the reconstituted DreamWorks. The film was going to be a re-adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Mary Chase and was to be written for the screen by popular novelist Jonathan Tropper.
Spielberg delivered earlier this week to 20th Century Fox, which had agreed to have DreamWorks finance 50% of production through its new funding relationship with Reliance and distribute domestically or internationally through its arrangement with Disney.
Variety reports it “has been a challenge to pull together since Spielberg committed last August. One of the biggest challenges has been setting a star to play Elwood P. Dowd, the character played by James Stewart in the 1950 film.”
Bennett Miller Grabs the Moneyball from Columbia
The Capote helmer is now in talks with Columbia to direct their Moneyball project that once had Steven Soderbergh attached. Steven Soderbergh was attached to direct the pic, but studio topper Amy Pascal (the most powerful woman in Hollywood) pulled the plug on the film just days before lensing was going to begin after her dismay after reading Soderbergh’s rewrite.
Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin penned the script, which is based on Michael Lewis’ best-selling tome. Stan Chervin wrote an earlier draft.
The film revolves around the real-life story based on Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, who defied conventional wisdom and even his own scouts by fielding a baseball team of castoffs to create the ultimate underdogs en route to one of the most unlikely winning streaks in the history of professional sports.
New Line Cinema to Develop Nutcracker Film
With films like Disney’s Alice in Wonderland grabbing buzz and even The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassuss as these surreal fantasy films, other studios are looking for their next surrealistic fantasy film adaptation. New Line cinema seems to think an adaptation of the Nutcracker story is their ticket.
New Line’s delving into the fairy tale “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” snapping up a pitch from Darren Lemke and setting it up with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey of Temple Hill Entertainment. It’s the second New Line gig for Lemke, the orginal writer on another fairy tale re-imagining, Jack the Giant Killer, to which Bryan Singer is attached to direct. The original “Nutcracker” centers on a 12-year old girl who’s favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and defeats the Mouse King before transporting her to a kingdom of dolls. The story’s been adapted numerous times with the most famous version coming with the 1892 ballet composed by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
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