Cuba Gooding Jr To Star In Revolution Studios' "Radio"

Cuba Gooding Jr. is in negotiations to star in Revolution Studios' "Radio" for director Mike Tollin. The project will go into production in the fall.

"Radio," based on a 1996 Sports Illustrated article by Gary Smith, tells of the true-life relationship between a white football coach in a small South Carolina town who befriends a mentally challenged black man (Gooding) who can barely read or write. Under the coach's mentoring, their relationship helps transform the social dynamics of the team and the school.

Tollin and his partner, Brian Robbins, will produce through their Tollin/Robbins Prods. Mike Rich ("The Rookie") wrote the screenplay.

Cuba, repped by Endeavor and 3 Arts Entertainment, will segue into "Radio" after he wraps shooting Paramount Pictures/MTV Films' "The Fighting Temptations," which goes into production in the summer.

Following "Radio," he is expected to begin work on the Walt Disney Co.'s "Snow Dogs 2." He next stars in the indie comedy "Boat Trip."

Duane Martin will make his feature writing and producing debut

Duane Martin ("Scream 2") will make his feature writing and producing debut with the comedic thriller "Ride or Die," in which he will star opposite Vivica A. Fox.

Co-written by Jay Wolcott and directed by Craig Ross Jr., "Ride" is the story of a private detective (Martin) searching for answers to the death of his best friend, who will be portrayed by recording artist Jadakiss.

Other cast members include Meagan Good ("Friday") and Michael "Bear" Taliferro ("Armageddon").

Martin previously produced the Fox television series "Getting Personal," in which he starred opposite Fox. His credits also include "Any Given Sunday" and "White Men Can't Jump."

Dominic Sena to direct "Killer" thriller

 "Swordfish" director Dominic Sena will team up with "American Psycho" producer Chris Hanley on an adaptation of "The Killer Inside Me," the 1952 pulp fiction classic by Jim Thompson.

A screenplay was written by Andrew Dominik, the critically acclaimed writer-director of "Chopper," and by the book's rights holder, Robert Weinbach.

Set in a small West Texas town, "Killer" is the story of Lou Ford, a good ol' boy sheriff's deputy who conceals a psychopathic streak longer than the highways of the Lone Star State.

"Killer" joins a long list of Hollywood films adapted from hard-boiled Thompson tomes: Sam Peckinpah's "The Getaway," James Foley's "After Dark, My Sweet," Stephen Frears' "The Grifters" and Steven Shainberg's "Hit Me" (adapted from "A Swell-Looking Babe").

Stacy Keach and Susan Tyrell also starred in a 1976 take on "Killer," directed by Burt Kennedy. "I've been a fan but somebody always had (rights to the book) and it wasn't available," Sena told. "There's a huge challenge here. You have to find a way to make him a more empathetic character without taking the edge off of him."

Sena most recently directed "Swordfish" and has passed on a number of big-budget greenlights in hopes of making "Killer" his next movie. But first he has to find the right actor to portray the film's antagonistic protagonist.

"You can find a lot of people willing to play violent good guys," Sena said. "That will be the biggest challenge of taking this to screen, finding an actor."

Sena also directed Nicolas Cage in "Gone in 60 Seconds" and Brad Pitt in "Kalifornia." Dominik made his feature debut in 2000 with the hard-hitting biopic "Chopper."

Kate Beckinsale, Matthew Mc-Conaughey and Gary Oldman on their Tiptoes

Kate Beckinsale, Matthew Mc-Conaughey and Gary Oldman are in negotiations to star in the indie feature "Tiptoes" for writer-director Matthew Bright. Production is expected to start this month in Los Angeles.

"Tiptoes," described as a dwarf love story, is about a young woman (Beckinsale) who finds out she is pregnant, but her boyfriend (McConaughey) doesn't want her to have the baby. When she insists, she learns that he comes from a long line of little people, including his twin brother Rolfe (Oldman), with whom she eventually falls in love. Patricia Arquette is attached to the project, which explores intimate relationships between various little people.

The transformation of Oldman into a little person will be done through a combination of forced perspective and blue screen.

Brad Wyman, Chris Hanley and Elie Cohen are producing "Tiptoes," as is Oldman's manager Douglas Urbanski. Darryl Marshak and Susan Zachary are executive producing. Langley Prods. and Canal Plus-Wildbunch are financing the project, with Wildbunch handling foreign sales.

Beckinsale, repped by ICM, next stars in the indie feature "Laurel Canyon." McConaughey is repped by ICM along with manager Gus Gustawes and attorney Kevin Morris. Following "Tiptoes," the actor will segue into Paramount Pictures' "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" for director Donald Petrie. He next stars in Lions Gate Films' "Frailty," the Walt Disney Co./-Spyglass Entertainment's "Reign of Fire" and Sony Pictures Classics' "13 Conversations About One Thing." Oldman is repped by CAA. ICM International is repping the project domestically.

Protests as film censor cuts sex scene

Is Britain a nation of philistine prudes? The debate reopened last night as the British Board of Film Classification ordered cuts to an award-winning French art house film passed uncensored in 12 countries, including France where it was seen by anyone over 16.

Distributors of The Pornographer, the story of a destitute former porn director, were ordered to remove 11 seconds of unsimulated oral sex that British censors considered too much for an adult UK audience.

An overzealous editor ended up chopping a total of 17 seconds. Now the distribution company, Tartan Metro, plans to produce a plaque at the beginning of the film saying the work has been "butchered" due to "archaic" British rules. The company wants to have the extra six seconds restored.

A spokesman for the BBFC said the board stood by its decision. "It is very rare for us to see a mainstream film with this level of real sex."

She denied the decision was a parting gesture from the outgoing BBFC president, Andreas Whittam Smith, who leaves in July.

The Pornographer, which won the Fipresci award at last year's Cannes film festival, is the first mainstream film to be cut in Britain since part of a graphic rape scene was chopped out of the French film Baise-Moi recently.

Bertrand Bonello, The Pornographer's director, said: "I am very surprised and upset. The film has been sold in more than 12 countries and this is the first time such a thing happens."

He added: "With the fine cast of this film, does it make all these people pornographers? We are all pornographers."

'O Brother' Producers Get Label Deal

The surprise success of the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack has led to a record label deal for its producer, T Bone Burnett, and Joel and Ethan Coen, the makers of the film.

Columbia Records will distribute the new label, DMZ Records. Its first release will be from 75-year-old country singer Ralph Stanley, who won a Grammy Award this year for his "O Death" track on the "O Brother" soundtrack. The disc will be released June 11.

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?" won five Grammys including album of the year, and producer of the year honors for Burnett. The disc of bluegrass, gospel and traditional country songs has sold more than 4.6 million copies. However, Burnett said the record label won't simply churn out music in the style of "O Brother."

"We're not going to concentrate solely on traditional American music. We're going to do music that is good, music that will become traditional American music," he said in a statement Tuesday.

The new label's board of advisers will include Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Bono and the Coen brothers.

Shana Morrison follows old man Van into music biz

Life on the road is rarely glamorous for budding rock stars, even ones with famous dads.

Pop singer Shana Morrison has done more than her fair share of sleeping on airport floors, eating at truck stops and counting the pennies on the tours of pubs and clubs she undertakes with her band, Caledonia.

Plenty of people she terms as "freaks" and "weirdos" turn up at her shows. The object of their pursuit: the only child of Van Morrison, a true giant of popular music equally famed for being an irascible recluse.

If Caledonia is having a good night, maybe it will honor a request to play a Van oldie, though not Brown Eyed Girl, the 1968 classic inspired by Shana's mother, Janet Planet Rigsbee. Soft-spoken and slight, Shana Morrison has perfected the art of no-comment diplomacy when fanatics demand in-depth explanations of obscure Van b-sides or opaque lyrics.

Performing in relative obscurity, out of the media glare, has helped Morrison develop a strong following around her San Francisco Bay-area base. But, with her debut album on Vanguard Records now in stores, the weirdo factor could soar.

The album, 7 Wishes, released this week by Santa Monica-based Vanguard, an independent folk, blues and jazz label. Morrison self-released an album, Caledonia, in 1998.

Certainly, people assuming that her Celtic heritage would give 7 Wishes a Chieftains/Guinness flavoring will be disappointed. Her mainstream sound reflects her interest in soulful singer/songwriters Rickie Lee Jones and Teena Marie. During the sessions, her stereo boasted compact discs by the likes of English pop singer Dido and Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, although she doesn't think she sounds like them.

Keeping it diverse

"I wanted to make an album that basically didn't pigeonhole me into one category," Morrison, who turns 32 on April 7, told Reuters in a recent interview at the Vanguard office. "I think that pop kinda leaves it as wide open as you can go. You can range off into different styles with that, instead of going for a straight blues or Irish or something."

At any rate, Morrison was born and raised in the United States, the only child from her father's five-year marriage to Rigsbee, a Texan singer/songwriter he dubbed Janet Planet. Shana grew up in her mother's home in Los Angeles, was educated there, and earned a business degree from Pepperdine University in Malibu.

She also has British citizenship and visits her paternal grandmother, Violet, in Belfast whenever she can. (Shana's publishing company and label is called Belfast Violet.)

As a youngster, Morrison was a reluctant music student, preferring ballet, gymnastics and horse-riding. "If it was a choice between sitting in the house and practicing piano or doing one of those things, there was no contest."

But the family business eventually got the better of her, particularly given that her initial career as a paralegal put her too close to her dad's natural enemy, attorneys.

Morrison joined her father on tour in 1993, and sang on his 1994 live album A Night in San Francisco and the Van tribute album No Prima Donna (both from 1994).

She formed Caledonia (also her middle name) five years ago, and has managed the band through numerous, frustrating personnel shifts over the years. And slowly, Caledonia expanded its sphere beyond San Francisco.

A little help from dad

Morrison rejected various overtures from major labels, preferring to work on her singing and songwriting before unleashing Caledonia on the world. She mostly handles lyrics and melodies, and can sometimes tap out chords on the piano.

The first single from the new album, Smoke in Bed, darkly compares a bad relationship to an addiction. Morrison says it has applications to past liaisons from her younger days, and she now wistfully describes herself as "full-on single."

Her father broke with custom and overdubbed vocals and harmonica on Shana's cover of Sometimes We Cry, which originally appeared on his 1997 album, The Healing Game.

No, he did not charge her.

7 Wishes also includes a cover of Naked in the Jungle, a song he wrote in the 1970s and finally issued on his 1998 album The Philosopher's Stone.

At the time of the interview, Morrison had not received any feedback on the album from her father, and she felt stupid asking him.

But there is no animosity between the two. He gets a special acknowledgment in the album credits, and she is especially grateful for his love, especially when she considers the problems her childhood friends, Wendy and Carnie Wilson, have had with their troubled father, Beach Boy Brian Wilson.

"Knowing a lot of children of divorced parents, I feel very fortunate that my dad was always there. I always knew that he wanted to be with me. I always knew that I could call him at any time. I never felt abandoned by my dad, or ignored or anything like that. He was always a really good dad."

"The Teddy Projects' The Next Step In The Evolution Of The Miramax Label

Miramax co-chair Harvey Weinstein, who rose to prominence on the strength of his company's edgy, adult dramas, is gambling that a raft of new family-themed movies will create some fairy dust for his slate.

After watching sibling label Dimension Films successfully dip its toe in the kiddie pool with "Spy Kids" -- a film whose $113 million domestic gross exceeded that of any Miramax Films 2001 release -- Weinstein is making a concerted drive into the children's market.

An internal Miramax memo obtained by Variety indicates the Miramax co-chair is vigorously pushing ahead with several high-profile kids films, which it dubs "the Teddy Projects."

He has yet to unveil a full-blown family entertainment division of Miramax Films. But the memo describes the "Teddy" slate as "the next step in the evolution of the Miramax label."

The memo says these films, which are in either production or development under co-presidents of production Meryl Poster and Bob Osher, "will complement (Miramax's) traditional edgy, independent slate of foreign and domestic" releases, which include the upcoming titles "Ararat," "Chicago," "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," "Tadpole" and "Dirty Pretty Things."

Miramax declined to confirm details of the projects, but they are said to include:

-- "The Firework-Maker's Daughter": Miramax has acquired the rights to this novel by "Golden Compass" author Philip Pullman. Anthony Minghella could produce the film, a comic adventure about a girl who desperately wants to be a fireworks-maker like her widower father.
-- "Ella Enchanted": Anne Hathaway ("The Princess Diaries") is in final negotiations to star in the project based on the Newbery Medal-winning novel by Gail Carson Levine. Karen Lutz and Kirsten Smith ("Legally Blond") are onboard to write the script, with Tommy O'Haver ("Get Over It") directing.
-- "Slugger": Kevin James ("The King of Queens") is in talks to star in this project about a 10-year-old boy who learns to play baseball and overcome the death of his father with some help from the ghost of Babe Ruth. Demi Moore is among the producers, and Sanford Bookstaver, one-time assistant to DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, will direct from a script by Bruce Graham and Steven Gary Banks.
-- "Pinocchio": Miramax and McDonald's have entered into a worldwide promotional partnership for this adaptation of Carlo Collodi's classic Italian fairy tale, scripted by Roberto Benigni and his "Life Is Beautiful" writing partner Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni directed and starred in the film with wife Nicoletta Braschi, his "Life" co-star.
-- "Artemis Fowl": Miramax Films is scheduled to begin shooting the adaptation of Eoin Colfer's book in October. Story of a crafty 12-year-old boy immersed in a world of fairies, leprechauns and gnomes, the film will be produced by Tribeca Films' Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro. Talk Miramax Books will publish a sequel to the novel.
-- "The Magic Brush": John Chu and "Shrek" exec producers Penney Cox and Sandy Rabins are producing this animated feature, to be produced by Centro Digital Pictures in Hong Kong. Chu is directing and David Henry Hwang is adapting the project, based on a Chinese fairy tale about a young orphan who yearns to be an artist.
-- "A Cricket in Times Square": George Selden's bestseller will be Miramax's first CGI-effects project. Miramax also owns the rights to six sequels.
-- "Neverland": Miramax will start production later this year on this Johnny Depp starrer. The story of how James M. Barrie's beloved play "Peter Pan" came to be staged, based on the author's relationship with four fatherless boys and their mother in turn-of-the-century London, it's being adapted by David Magee and directed by Marc Forster ("Monster's Ball").

DIVERSIFICATION

The "Teddy" slate is the latest move by Miramax to diversify its output. Miramax continues to enjoy recognition in its traditional area of expertise, indie and arthouse fare. Glossier films such as "The Shipping News" and "Kate and Leopold" stumbled last year, but thanks in part to another robust box office run from Dimension, Miramax recorded $161 million in profits in 2001.

A slate of kids projects nevertheless takes Miramax into territory that is the traditional province of its corporate parent, the Walt Disney Co.

Miramax Films spokesman Matthew Hiltzik didn't anticipate a conflict with Disney. He cited Disney's success with films such as "Remember the Titans" and "The Rookie" as examples Miramax hopes to follow, but indicated the "Teddy" slate will have a distinct Miramax stamp.

A lot of the projects are book-driven, international in scope and feature players long associated with Miramax, including Minghella, Benigni and Gladstein.

"Disney has set an incredible example and enjoyed great success with a wide range of such projects," Hiltzik said. "We're taking the Miramax approach and Miramax talent and applying it to our own family projects."

Talent Agents Make Pitch to Actors

Major Hollywood agents have started sending their actor clients individual pitch letters seeking their approval of the landmark tentative deal between the Screen Actors Guild and talent agencies.

The move, which comes as ratification ballots go out Wednesday to SAG's 98,000 members, underscores the importance placed on the pact and its provisions to ease ownership restrictions on agencies while preserving the SAG "master franchise agreement" governing actor-agent relations.

Results of the referendum will be announced April 19. "Dear Valued Client," began a letter dated Thursday, received by hundreds of actors represented by Cunningham-Escott-Dipene. "We hope you will support the thousands of hours of hard work that went into arriving at a win-win agreement for actors and agents. The agreement provides for uncompromised representation and strengthens the partnership between the agency and acting community."

The deal, struck Feb. 24 after weeks of closed-door negotiations, would allow talent agencies to purchase up to 20 percent of independent film and TV production companies or sell as much as 20 percent of their own business to producers.

The same cap would apply to talent agency investments made in or received by advertising firms.

Opponents argue the deal goes too far in relaxing decades-old rules designed to curb conflicts of interest among agents. Those rules have prevented agents from having too big an ownership interest in companies for which their clients work.

Supporters contend investments allowed under the deal would be fully disclosed and represent non-controlling interests, leaving the nature of the actor-agent relationship unchanged. The pact still forbids movie studios, television networks or their affiliates from holding a stake in talent agencies.

For the agencies, the deal gives them greater ability to attract much-needed capital and to compete with talent managers in Hollywood who already can represent clients' interests while producing movies and TV shows.

The talent agency letters were part of a package prepared by the Assn. of Talent Agents and the Natl. Assn. of Talent Representatives, the trade groups that negotiated the deal with SAG. An ATA rep said several agencies have sent out such information recently to help persuade actors to vote for the pact.

SAG also announced Tuesday that the three-year deal includes a provision to expand actor access to agents, which union president Melissa Gilbert called "one of the biggest hurdles an actor faces."

Film Studios Create New Standards Body

Seven major U.S. film studios said Tuesday that they have joined forces to promote standards for digital cinema technology.

The core members of the new venture include Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. The studios said they aim to improve the digital movie experience through various initiatives, including adopting open technical standards that would help make competing digital formats compatible and interoperable. The studios said they also hope to spur the use of digital projection equipment in movie theaters.

"It's a necessary step in the evolution of filmmaking," said Jarvis Mak, a senior analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings. "When these movie studios come together, it's not like they're competing against one another...Their interests in coming together to form a standard are all to benefit the whole industry."

According to a statement released by the Walt Disney Co., 20th Century Fox, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros., the entity in its initial phase will work toward adopting open technical standards, establishing benchmarks for quality control and high levels of technical performance and evaluating business strategies to quicken the pace of digital deployment into movie theaters.

"In order to bring the benefits of this technology to the public on a large-scale basis, there needs to be industrywide standards so that movie producers, exhibitors and equipment manufacturers can be confident that their products and services are interoperable and compatible with the products and services of all industry participants," the studios said.

Representatives from several of the studios confirmed that they intend to work closely with both the exhibition community and the technology players focused on digital cinema.

Thus far, the initiative has received support from the exhibition community, though it remains wary of the studios moving forward on any business strategies without the collaboration of exhibition.

"We expect to have input in the deliberations of the joint venture," said John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners. "Theater owners reiterate, however, that the business issues involved with this transition to digital cinema still require collective and comprehensive discussions between the studios and exhibition."

Studio spokesmen were quick to point out that initial work will focus on standards surrounding projection of theatrical product, compression and security issues. Questions over who will pay for the deployment of the systems, which can cost anywhere from $150,000-$200,000 a screen, will not be explored without the exhibition community's involvement.

"There are a number of business models under discussion today," Fox executive vp digital exhibition and special projects Julian Levin said. "(It is) not something we are addressing at this stage, but hopefully we can address it more comprehensively in the future."

The studios declined to elaborate on how the joint venture will be funded, beyond stating that each studio will contribute an equal dollar amount and the initial amount will be "sufficient to fund testing, research and limited trial equipment deployment."

The studios plan to announce a dedicated management team in the next several months. "Our focus will be on hiring people from outside of the studios," Sony Pictures senior vp corporate development Sean Terry said. "But the idea of someone from one of the studios taking the role has not been eliminated. Whoever it is will be a dedicated manager, focused solely on this venture."

Levin expects to achieve the goals of the venture within the next two years. "All of the studios are equally excited about moving the agenda forward," he said. "There has been great initiative and proactive participation from everyone. I expect that to continue."