Sunday 22 June 2008

The Weinsteins Hear the Neon Lights Are Bright on Broadway

Photo: Getty Images
Bob and Harvey Go Legit: Having run out of hapless Hollywood executives to devour with soul-crushing fury, Bob and Harvey Weinstein have turned their bottomless rage to Broadway. (Truth be told, we're not giving them enough credit, as the Weinstein Company was a minority co-producer in both August: Osage County and Boeing-Boeing, two plays that enjoyed seven Tonys between them.) Now the Weinsteins will dig through the Miramax catalogue and kick off their run with Finding Neverland in 2010, followed by a stage version of Pink Floyd's The Wall, Shakespeare in Love, Chocolat, Cinema Paradiso, and Shall We Dance. Psst, Harvey, you forgot Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. [Variety]

Open-Mike Night for Carrey: Serious dramatic actor Jim Carrey has signed on to an untitled comedy project with Lisa Lampenelli at HBO. In the series, a serious woman unexpectedly inherits a comedy club and must play a motherly role to the resident comics. Since it's no longer 1997, we can only assume Carrey will play the serious woman. [Variety]

My One and Only Bacon: We have an update on My One and Only, George Hamilton's childhood adventure movie that no one under 60 could possibly care about! Guess who's joining the cast! It's — no, it's not Lawrence Welk. No, we're pretty sure Donna Reed is dead. Okay, fine — it's Kevin Bacon! [Variety]



MGM Buys a New Le Car: MGM has purchased a comedy spec from Wayne McClammy and Will Burke, both Jimmy Kimmel writers, McClammy having directed "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" and its Ben Affleck sequel. Their script is designed to "unspool as a found film made in the 1980s," about CIA agents who try to stop an "evil car" from blowing up the Lake Placid Olympics. [HR]

Universal Starts a Family: Universal has snatched up The Family Bond, an adventure spec by Jeff Lowell (John Tucker Must Die) about a "girl who goes on an adventure to rescue her mother, with the father she never knew she had, a Bond-like spy." Yes, this is exactly like Spy Kids. [HR]

History Repeating for Johnson: Have you just stopped caring, Universal? Dave H. Johnson sold Uni a comedy pitch, Repeat After Me, about a "couple who realize they are reliving their disastrous wedding day again and again." How about a movie about a studio that just keeps making Groundhog Day over and over again? [HR]