Pitof pounces on 'Catwoman'

Visual effects director-turned-helmer Pitof is in negotiations to make his English-language debut on Warner Bros.' "Catwoman" for Di Novi Pictures.

Ashley Judd continues to be attached to the project, which has no start date. Pitof is known for his visual effects work on such projects as "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc," "Asterix & Obelix vs. Caesar" and "Alien: Resurrection."

Last year, he made his directorial debut on the French action/crime thriller "Vidocq," starring Gerard Depardieu. Warner Bros. executive vp production Kevin McCormick is overseeing the project.

John Rogers wrote the most recent draft of the script, which is about a cat-loving gymnast who runs an animal grooming business. While she is a vulnerable woman, her alter ego, Catwoman, is superconfident and must battle against the town's evil mayor and his business associate. Pitof, whose birth name is Jean-Christophe Comar, is repped by Endeavor.

How To Lose Friends And Alienate People

The UK's FilmFour has optioned "How To Lose Friends And Alienate People", Toby Young’s best-selling (pre-order now, book to be released July 4, 2002) account of his time in New York on upmarket magazine Vanity Fair.

Young will write the screenplay and act as associate producer on the project, which charts how the British journalist was fired after faux pas such as asking celebrities about their sexual orientation. He once hired a strip-o-gram to come to the office on Take Our Daughters to Work Day.

"This is the ultimate revenge on my former employers," said Young. "I fully expect to be admitted to the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2004 clutching an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay."

The book, published in the UK by Little Brown, has been on the UK best-seller list for 22 weeks.

UK newspaper The Independent on Sunday called it "a funny, authentic and compelling examination of a media world obsessed with celebrity".

Elinor Day, deputy head of production at FilmFour, will oversee the project. The deal was brokered by Emma Parry, Youngs’ agent at Carlisle & Company, Andrew Hildebrand, director of business affairs for FilmFour, and David Brook, Channel 4’s director of strategy and development.

"We're thrilled," said FilmFour chief Paul Webster. "With his acerbic wit, Toby Young is the natural successor to Billy Wilder and I A L Diamond."

Mike Figgis to Direct Disney Thriller

Oscar-nominated British director Mike Figgis ("Leaving Las Vegas") has signed on to take the helm of the contemporary thriller "Cold Creek Manor" for the Walt Disney Co. "Manor" involves an urban family that moves into a new home in the country, only to find their dream turn into a nightmare when the previous owner of the property returns from prison to demand his house back.

The picture, being readied for a fall production start, marks the first mainstream studio movie to which Figgis has committed since "Mr. Jones" in 1993, though in 1994 he directed "The Browning Version" for Paramount.

In terms of studios, he most recently worked with Sony's Screen Gems, which distributed experimental feature "Timecode."

Before that, he collaborated with United Artists on "Miss Julie," which followed from their previous work on MGM/UA's "Leaving Las Vegas," for which Figgis received Oscar nominations for directing and adapted screenplay. Figgis most recently directed a segment of "Ten Minutes Older."

His directing credits also include "Hotel," the film-within-a-film-within-a-horror-film starring Rhys Ifans and David Schwimmer. Figgis recently joined Wim Wenders' Road Movies, Martin Scorsese and Clear Blue Sky Prods. to direct one of a series of films on blues music for PBS.

As part of the series, Figgis takes a personal look at the blues' influence on the British music of the 1960s, with artists like Eric Clapton, Tom Jones and the Rolling Stones.

"Cold Creek Manor" was penned by Richard Jefferies based on an original pitch he told to Disney last year. Jefferies previously adapted the book "The Truth Machine" for Village Roadshow/Warner Bros. He also is writing "Tron 2.0" for Disney, to be produced by Steven Lisberger.

Andie MacDowell Wraps Up Three Films

Andie MacDowell has come a long way since 1984's "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan," when actress Glenn Close was brought in to dub her voice over MacDowell's southern drawl. MacDowell has just wrapped three new films:

"Crush," a tale of three women who meet weekly to discuss their love lives;

"Harrison's Flowers," (read Interview) about war correspondents and photojournalists in Yugoslavia; "Ginostra," filmed in Italy with Harvey Keitel.

But MacDowell's focus lately has been on her 13-year-old daughter, Rainey, who recently performed as Miss Adelaide in the school version of "Guys and Dolls."

"She was amazing," MacDowell told Parade magazine for its Sunday editions. "Much better than I'd have been at 13. She danced and sang up a storm. I could never have done that."

As for her own fame and being twice voted one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World," MacDowell brushed off a question about how seriously she took the magazine honor.

"All my friends were just thrilled about it," she laughed.

Miramax Sets Christmas Bow for Scorsese's Gangs of New York

After months of sometimes vexed negotiations over the release date and running time of Martin Scorsese's 19th-century epic "Gangs of New York," the director and Miramax Films have reached a consensus.

The film, first slated for Oscar contention last fall, will now open Christmas week. And the movie's running time, which once stood at nearly three hours, has been trimmed to under two hours and 40 minutes.

Word that both points were settled came as the New York Times ran a front-page story on Sunday, headlined "Two Hollywood Titans Brawl Over a Gang Epic," suggesting that fights between Scorsese and Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein over running time were continuing.

According to the Times, a new ending to the film might be shot, and no release date had been chosen. The article also put the film's budget at $103 million, vastly lower than insiders anticipate.

Speculation has circulated recently that Miramax would screen a segment of the film -- perhaps a 25-minute excerpt -- at the Cannes film festival, but the company has no official plans for that.

Miramax has a lot riding on the picture. Its scenes of explicit street violence in downtown Manhattan gave producers second thoughts about releasing the movie soon after Sept. 11.

But as the release date has dragged out -- a costly process for a film budgeted at close to $100 million -- Weinstein and Scorsese have dickered over final cut.

That debate appears to have finally been resolved. Although tiny elements of the film may still be tweaked before its release, the final edit is now locked in.

Some actors assume role of supporting ATA deal

Several high-profile members of the Screen Actors Guild  -- including Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Helen Hunt, Gregory Peck, Jane Kaczmarek, Martin Sheen, Patty Duke and Rob Lowe -- have assigned their names as official endorsees of the tentative agreement with the (ATA) Association of Talent Agents.

Other names of official endorsers, a list of which SAG released over the weekend include: Jane Alexander, Daryl Anderson, Diane Baker, Ed Begley Jr., Gil Bellows, Barbara Bosson, Bruce Boxleitner, Paula Cale, David Clennon, John Considine, James Cromwell, Dana Daurey, Richard Dysart, Shelley Fabares, Nanette Fabray, Bill Fagerbakke, Jamie Farr, Mike Farrell, Bonnie Franklin, James Frawley, Sara Gilbert, Tess Harper, Marilu Henner, Eileen Henry, Gordon Hunt, Peter Jason, Melina Kanakaredes, Casey Kasem, Tom LaGrua, Catherine McClenahan, Michael Monks, Kate Mulgrew, Peter Onorati, Alexandra Paul, Michael Pniewski, Adele Robbins, Bonnie Raitt, Eugenie Ross-Leming, William Schallert, Armin Shimerman, John Spence, Marcia Strassman, Loretta Swit, Concetta Tomei, B.J. Ward and Bradley Whitford.

The release of the list of endorsees comes as the pro and con forces of the deal are in all-out campaigning mode. Last week, the Actors Rights group, which is opposed to the deal, held a rally outside SAG headquarters and took out ads in the Hollywood trade papers imploring members to vote no on the deal.

During the past several weeks, SAG has been aggressively selling the tentative deal to its members and now is hoping to leverage the names of its high-profile members to persuade other members to vote yes in the ongoing membership referendum. A SAG spokeswoman said the guild will continue its pursuit of endorsees as the referendum moves forward.

Ballots in the referendum were sent out last week and are due back to the guild by April 19.

Kirchmedia Files for Insolvency - Court

KirchMedia, the core rights business of indebted media group Kirch and parent of Germany's biggest commercial broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, filed for insolvency on Monday, the Munich insolvency court said in a statement, giving no further details.

The move ends weeks of fruitless rescue efforts that saw minority KirchMedia shareholders such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Mediaset, controlled by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, trying to gain a foothold in Europe's biggest media market by taking over KirchMedia.

But the banks leading the rescue talks -- half state-owned BayernLB, Germany's second and third largest banks HVB Group and Commerzbank, and DZ Bank -- as well as Kirch itself decided an attempt to avoid insolvency was futile.

An insolvency filing by KirchMedia could bring down the whole Kirch empire, which is creaking under at least 6.5 billion euros ($5.71 billion) of debt, including its ailing pay television station Premiere and the umbrella holding TaurusHolding, sources close to Kirch said.

The insolvency would be the fourth major German corporate failure in recent weeks following planemaker Fairchild Dornier, office supplier Herlitz, and construction firm Philipp Holzmann.

Publishing: $8M to 'Mountain' Author

Charles Frazier, whose Civil War tale "Cold Mountain" became an award-winning best seller, is getting an $8 million advance for his next book, according to reports.

 The deal with Random House was agreed upon after Frazier presented a one-page proposal on the book, The New York Times and Newsweek reported Saturday.

The advance is an unusually high amount for literary fiction. Former President Clinton (news - web sites) is writing his memoirs for Alfred A. Knopf in a deal worth a reported $10 million, the highest ever for a nonfiction book.

Frazier's book, to be published in 2005, is based on a true story of a white man raised by Cherokee Indians and who represented the tribe in Washington in the 19th century. The man lived in Frazier's native North Carolina.

In an interview for this week's editions of Newsweek, Frazier said the time frame and its contrasts are what drew him to the character.

"His life spans the time from when the southern Appalachians were still a white space on the map to the time when there were early automobiles and sound recordings and light bulbs and telephones ringing," he said.

In addition, producer Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures bought the film rights to the proposal for more than $3 million, the reports said.

"Cold Mountain," the story of a Confederate soldier trying to return to his North Carolina home, was published in 1997 by Grove/Atlantic and won the National Book Award.

ProSiebenSat.1 Won't Be Hurt By KirchMedia Insolvency

German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG (G.PSM) said it won't be affected directly if its parent, KirchMedia GmbH, starts insolvency proceedings. "ProSiebenSat.1 Media is independent and financed separately from the Kirch Group (G.KCH)," Chief Executive Urs Rohner said in a statement. The broadcaster wouldn't be part of a potential insolvency process, Rohner said.

Kirch Group's main business, KirchMedia, is expected to file for insolvency this week, sources have said. KirchMedia comprises Kirch Group's film and sports rights trading business and owns 52.5% of ProSiebenSat.1.

Munich -based ProSiebenSat.1 operates three mainstream television channels - ProSieben, Sat.1 and Kabel1 - as well as the N24 news station. Its shares have more than doubled in value in three months and closed at EUR11.5 on Friday.

Kirch Group has run into difficulty after amassing debts and other liabilities of some EUR10 billion in an ambitious expansion drive. Kirch's assets include ProSiebenSat.1, Formula One motor racing, the rights to the 2002 and 2006 soccer World Cups, the biggest film library outside the U.S. , and unprofitable pay-TV venture Premiere. (Copyright Taska Manzaroli, Dow Jones)

Ahead of core unit's insolvency, Kirch moves soccer World Cup rights to Swiss subsidiary

Germany's ailing Kirch Group transferred the television rights to the 2002 and 2006 soccer World Cup to a Swiss-based subsidiary ahead of Monday's insolvency filing by the core KirchMedia unit, world soccer's governing body said.

The move puts the television rights under the control of Kirch Sport AG, based in Zug, Switzerland — and beyond the reach of the insolvency proceedings initiated in Munich.

Kirch Sport originally carried out sales to broadcasters worldwide on behalf of KirchMedia, which controls the group's huge film library, sports rights and four television stations.

It now is being expanded to become the parent company of the entities that distribute the rights worldwide, FIFA said in a statement.

"The companies are all financially sound and legally independent and will be in a position to fulfill all their obligations toward the broadcasters," it said.

The move had "the full support of FIFA," it added, without specifying when it was made.

Kirch holds the television rights for both this year's World Cup finals — May 31 to June 30 in South Korea and Japan — and the 2006 event, due to take place in Germany.

Already the holder of the rights for Europe, Kirch bought up the rights to the rest of the world following the dlrs 300 million collapse of Swiss sports marketing company ISL/ISMM last year. That collapse cost FIFA up to 110 million Swiss francs (dlrs 66 million).

FIFA says Kirch paid — on time — the 1.2 billion francs (dlrs 723 million) that it owed FIFA for the rights to the 2002 World Cup finals. Another 100 million francs (dlrs 60 million), due 20 days after the end of the finals, is covered by irrevocable bank guarantees.

Microsoft Seeks Movie-TV Partner

Microsoft Corp. is moving forward with its efforts to court entertainment industry companies as it tries to move into yet another new market — movie and television distribution.

At the National Association of Broadcasters industry conference Monday in Las Vegas, the software giant is announcing that several behind-the-scenes audio and video production companies, including Adobe, Avid Technology and Thomson Grass Valley Group, will make some of their products compatible with Microsoft's Windows Media Player format.

A less advanced version of the Windows Media Player is already used by consumers to play music and video over the Internet. But Michael Aldridge, a Microsoft lead product manager, said the company wants to release a more advanced version of the technology, code-named Corona, by the end of 2002.

Microsoft believes the new technology will eventually allow companies to distribute movies to theaters more cheaply, using a PC-based system rather than the current, costly movie reels. A similar system could later be used for cheaper TV transmissions, he said.

Microsoft still has many major hurdles in its effort to court this new market, said Phil Leigh, a digital media analyst with Raymond James & Associates — including delivering on the promises it has made about Corona.

"It's the old story of vaporware," Leigh said of Corona, which Microsoft has demonstrated at a couple events but has yet to let industry experts try out. "You can tell us what all these things are going to do, but do they work?"

If Microsoft can deliver on Corona, Leigh said the software giant may find itself with an attractive consumer product offering that can compete fiercely with rival RealNetworks' RealOne player.

Like Microsoft, rival RealNetworks also has been touting its digital rights management system for music and video, but the company has been less vocal about its plans for film distribution.

Mark Donovan, a group product manager at Real, said Friday the company is very interested in the idea but believes it will take several more years to address "huge security concerns" and the industry's general aversion to new technology.

"It's something that will undoubtedly happen over time, but we believe that's a very long time," Donovan said.

But convincing the entertainment industry to adopt a new technology for something like movie distribution is another matter.

The entertainment industry anticipated that such digital distribution options would be available "about the same time that NASA opened a hotel on Mars," Leigh said.

And, after having seen how free music swapping services like Napster threatened to undermine the music industry, Leigh said movie industry companies are wary.

"The biggest concern that they have is that, if the media content gets into a digital format, then it can be transferred anywhere on the Internet and they can lose control," Leigh said.