• Holly, Dunaway Hunt for "Colored Eggs"
• Christina Ricci gears up for "Speed Queen"
• Peter Greenaway The Tulse Luper Suitcase
• Walden is partnering with the C.S. Lewis for The Chronicles of Narnia
• Wayans The Incredible Shrinking Man
• Former Child Star Fred Wolf For Paramount Pictures
• Malaysia Film Director Rues Censor's Knife
• Bronfman to quit Vivendi Universal in March
• Boxoffice Predictions For Ocean's Eleven
• Zeal Ent. shows enthusiasm for Euro co-productions
• Fox signs Indian feature co-production deal
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  • Monday Dec 03
  • Thuesday Dec 04
  • Wednesday Dec 05
  • Thursday Dec 06

Holly, Dunaway hunt for "Colored Eggs"

Lauren Holly, Faye Dunaway, Tom Skerritt and Ian Somerhalder head the ensemble cast of "Colored Eggs," an indie movie shooting in Nashville.

The picture, adapted by Southern native Daniel Wright from his award-winning play, is a comedy about life, loss and love among an eccentric group of characters whose lives intersect under less than ideal circumstances. Martin Guigui is directing.

The project also features musical performances by Rita Coolidge and Earl and Randy Scruggs, alongside Grand Ole Opry singers Jan Howard and Jeannie Sealy.

Pic is Guigui's sophomore feature, following his festival hit "My Ex-Girlfriend's Wedding Reception," starring Deborah Gibson, to be released theatrically in early 2002.

Christina Ricci gears up for "Speed Queen"

Ricci, 21, will star in "The Speed Queen," a dark comedy that will be financed and produced by Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron's Monsoon Entertainment. The film is based on the eponymous distaff crime saga by novelist Stewart O'Nan. Production is expected to begin in the first half of 2002.

Ricci will attend next month's Sundance Film Festival with HBO's "The Laramie Project," "Miranda" and "Pumpkin," the latter of which she also produced. She also stars in and produced "Prozac Nation," which Miramax will release next year.

Cuaron ("A Little Princess") runs Los Angeles-based Monsoon with entrepreneur Jorge Vergara and former Canal Plus executive Arnaud Duteil. Ricci's production company, Blaspheme Films, will be credited on the film. Her other acting credits include "The Opposite of Sex" and the "Addams Family" movies.

Kirkus Reviews Wrote: (Buy This Book) Granta hotshot O'Nan (The Names of the Dead, 1996, etc.) gives us his variation on In Cold Blood, new and improved, for those who never read the original. On death row in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, on the very night of her execution, Marjorie Standiford is busy with her tape recorder. Last-minute appeal? Last Will and Testament? A farewell letter? No, nothing like that. Marjorie is making notes for Stephen King, who has decided to write a book about her.

Apparently Marjorie is a very hot ticket: Natalie, her partner in crime, has already published a bestseller about the twosome's life on the road as bandits and serial killers. But Marjorie has become a Christian since her arrest, you see, and is now worried about her image. "Sometimes in your books you make fun of religious people. You make them crazy or evil, like in Children of the Corn or Needful Things. I'd appreciate it if you didn't this once. Just make me the way I am.

"So Marjorie proceeds to tell Stephen the whole sad story, from white-trash childhood to pothead adolescence to marriage with speed-freak Lamont on to her eventual discovery of bisexuality with roommate Natalie. Eventually those three set up shop as drug dealers and are quickly successful.

When they find the cash from their big haul stolen, however, they turn to outright theft, murdering an old farmer and his wife in the process. From that point on, their fate is basically sealed: They take to the road, barrelling down Route 66 to the border, knocking off a restaurant and several of its customers before getting caught. As much as Marjorie regrets all the mess, she knows it makes a great story.

Stretching the credible and highly pretentious: O'Nan's portrait of a redneck who watches Monty Python and works out book treatments on her deathbed would be merely bizarre if she were just a character. Unfortunately, she's the entire story. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP.

Peter Greenaway The Tulse Luper Suitcase

Iconoclastic filmmaker Peter Greenaway is taking on his most ambitious project to date, "The Tulse Luper Suitcase," a trilogy of films that will include television and Internet components.

Isabella Rossellini, Caroline Dhavernas, Keram Malicki-Sanchez, Anson Mount, Richard Griffith, Zoe Wanamaker, Vincent Gallo, Jordi Molla, Debbie Harry, Victoria Abril, Raymond J. Barry and Hugh Bonneville will star in the project, which is casting for a total of 92 major characters. The title character has not yet been cast. Shooting for the first installment, "The Early Years," begins next month in Europe for release in September.

The "Suitcase" trilogy, budgeted in the $9 million-$11 million range, is said to be the writer-director's passion project, which he has been writing for 15 years. It revolves thematically around 92, the atomic number of uranium on the periodic table. The story begins with the discovery of uranium in 1928 and ends with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989. At the center of the story is Tulse Luper, who spends his life in prisons throughout the world creating various forms of art, from paintings to cinema. In addition to 92 characters in the film, there are 92 stories involving 92 suitcases, each containing 92 items.

Greenaway plans to shoot the projects back to back using a combination of 35mm, high-definition and digital film. The films will shot and edited simultaneously, with the second installment, "Vaux to the Sea," shot in fall 2002 for a spring 2003 release. By that time, production on the third film, "From Sark to Finish," will have begun.

The television component, details of which are being worked out, will include 16 half-hour episodes. The Internet component will expand the story line of characters who appear in the film. Suitcase items also will be elaborated on at the Web site, expected to be up and running at the end of next month at www.tulselupernetwork.com .

The project, supported by the Welsh Film Fund, is produced by Kees Kassander of the Netherlands' Kassander Film Co. Co-financiers are Barcelona's TS Prods., Rome's Gam Film, Hungary's Focus Film, Luxembourg's Deluxe Prods. and Moscow's Studio 12-A.

Walden is partnering with the C.S. Lewis for The Chronicles of Narnia

If "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" -- the book, movie and looming franchise -- has become the new gold standard for a successful family-oriented fantasy series, then Cary Granat's New York-based Walden Media must have visions of "Potter"-like sugarplums dancing in its head.

No doubt hoping to capture some of the "Potter" magic, Walden is partnering with the C.S. Lewis Co. to option the late author C.S. Lewis' seven-part fantasy book series "The Chronicles of Narnia" -- with plans to develop it into a franchise, beginning with the children's classic "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

Published in 1950 by HarperCollins, "Wardrobe" is the second and best-known novel in the seven-part "Narnia" series. It tells the story of four kids who step through a magic wardrobe into Narnia, a once-peaceful land of talking beasts, dwarfs, giants and fauns that is now frozen into winter by the evil White Witch.

The "Narnia" books -- "Wardrobe," "The Magician's Nephew," "The Horse and His Boy," "Prince Caspian," "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," "The Silver Chair" and "The Last Battle" -- have been credited by many critics with influencing J.K. Rowling's "Potter" series. They've also earned an ardent following among several generations of readers.

Walden clearly would be happy to enjoy the same kind of close and profitable relationship with the Lewis estate and its prize book property that Warner Bros. has with Rowling and the "Potter" series.

The "Narnia" series had been in development at Paramount Pictures with Kennedy/Marshall producing, but the rights expired last month. It is understood that several studios were interested in acquiring the project, but the estate finally settled on Walden, given its mission to marry popular entertainment and education.

The project will be overseen by Douglas Gresham, stepson of Lewis, Walden executive vp film and television Joel Stillerman and vp production and development Perry Moore. No writer has been chosen yet to adapt the book.

"It has been our dream for many years not simply to make a live-action version of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,' but to do so while remaining faithful to the novel," Gresham said. "We are delighted to make this film with Walden Media, which we are confident will create the adaptation that my stepfather would have wanted."

Walden is financing and co-producing Phoenix Pictures' "Holes," based on Louis Sachar's book of the same name, which Andrew Davis will direct (HR 7/27). The company also is producing with Casey Silver the pre-Revolutionary War drama "Rebels," with David L. Cunningham attached to direct

Wayans The Incredible Shrinking Man

 Actor-turned-helmer Keenen Ivory Wayans is in negotiations to direct Universal Pictures/Imagine Entertainment's "The Incredible Shrinking Man," with Eddie Murphy in the title role.

Imagine topper Brian Grazer is producing the project, which aims to go into production around June.

The original 1957 Universal "Shrinking" film, based on Richard Matheson's novel, stars Grant Williams as a man who begins to shrink after he is exposed to a strange mist. His life becomes a battle for survival, with only his wits to overcome the liability of his size.

Mark Burton and Billy Frolick wrote the script to the remake. Cary Kirkpatrick, one of the writers of "Chicken Run," is co-executive producing, with Murphy executive producing. The actor made a commitment to star in the project nearly two years ago.

"I've been an enormous Keenen fan since his TV show ('In Living Color'), and I've always wanted to work him," Grazer told The Hollywood Reporter. "This is the perfect vehicle for him, and we just happen to have a mutual friend in Eddie Murphy."

Wayans, repped by the Gold/Miller Co., has directed Dimension Films' franchise "Scary Movie" and "Scary Movie 2."

Wayans made his feature directorial debut in 1988 with the comedy feature "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka," which he also wrote and starred in. Other directing credits include the Fox sketch comedy series "In Living Color" and the feature "A Low Down Dirty Shame," both of which he wrote and starred in.

Former Child Star Fred Wolf For Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures has paid a high-six-figure advance for the comedy pitch "Former Child Star" from scribe Fred Wolf ("Black Sheep").

Wolf will co-write the screenplay with David Spade, who is in talks to star. Wolf will make the pic his directorial debut. The film will be produced by Happy Madison Prods., Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo's production shingle.

The story centers on a 35-year-old former child star, who's washed up and highly eccentric. He decides to hire an entire foster family -- complete with mother, father and siblings -- to re-create the family he never had.

Wolf also is teamed with Spade on the project "Puka Pete," which is set up at Sony-based Revolution Studios. He is working with Peter Segal on the Paramount-based project "Venus Down," which Segal will co-write, direct and produce.

Malaysia Film Director Rues Censor's Knife

Teck Tan's friends said he was mad to attempt a feature film on young Malaysians' battles with life, love and religion in their multiracial, melting pot of a country.

Bloodied by local censors' treatment of his award-winning work, and cinema revenue reduced by the pirate video trade, the 39-year-old director of "Spinning Gasing" fears they may have been right.

"They might as well not have passed the film as far as I'm concerned. With 25 cuts it jars, it affects the story, it even affects the box office," he told Reuters in an interview after the end of the movie's recent run in local cinemas.

The beautifully shot English-language film, featuring a wannabe band stumbling from well-to-do birthday parties in suburban Kuala Lumpur to the rural piety of Peninsular Malaysia's east coast, was very nearly banned outright.

"Spinning Gasing" -- a reference to traditional Malay spinning tops and an allusion to Malaysia's rapid pace of change -- turns on long-held but unrequited love between band impressario Harry and bass guitarist Yati.

"Our New Year's present was a letter from the censor board saying that they had banned the film for quite a few reasons, primarily because it touched on racial and religious sensitivities and was not a film that should be seen by Malaysians," Tan said.

The decision was overturned on appeal but not before censors had their way with the scalpel to excise a whole scene showing religious police raid a hotel in search of khalwat (close proximity) offenders -- unmarried Muslims guilty of illegal intimacy with the opposite sex.

"The 'khalwat' put everything into perspective," said Tan, referring to relations between Yati, a Malay Muslim woman, and Harry, a young Chinese man who has abandoned his faith.

Most of the Southeast Asian nation's 23 million population are Malay Muslims who are largely conservative and protective over their faith. Around a quarter are Buddhist Chinese and about eight percent Indians, who are generally Hindu.

Malaysian media are heavily influenced by the government, which preaches stability above all else in a country yet to bury the ghosts of bloody riots between Malays and Chinese in 1969.

The censors routinely remove or prohibit scenes of explicit sexual nature, swearing and offensive references to race and religion from movies as well as television and radio programs.

LOVE LOST

Most difficult for Tan to accept was censors' treatment of a restrained love scene reminiscent of "The Age of Innocence" or Michelle Pfeiffer in "Dangerous Liaisons," where Harry gently tends Yati's hair as they bathe in the sea.

"There are some pivotal scenes in the film that make the film, and that was one of them," laments Tan.

"Those close ups were crucial to understanding what they felt for one another -- they wanted to but they couldn't."

Religious restraints on Yati, played by local stage actress Ellie Suriaty Omar, who was best actress at the Cinemaya Festival of Asian Cinema 2001 in New Delhi, meant that for the relationship to stand a chance, Harry must convert to Islam and marry her.

The alternatives were to walk away or to conduct the affair in secret with no hope for the long term.

"I have been told that the film has offended sections of the Malay community," Tan said.

"To them, they ask why is it an issue? Yati should have convinced Harry to convert and then they would have got married but for me as a Chinese, it is an issue," he said.

"These are issues we have to deal with, there's no point in saying they are nonissues. If we are to be a mature nation, we have to tackle these issues head on."

Assaulted by Western influences at home, and with thousands of students going abroad for their university education, Malaysians face a cocktail of confusion familiar to many young people in developed and rapidly developing nations.

Clubland drugs, homosexuality, mixed race parentage -- all feature in Tan's film, with the inevitable cuts ensuing.

UNCUT PIRATE

Quite apart from the artistic impact, Tan bemoans the financial loss from potential viewers resorting to pirated video discs of the uncensored version.

"I got very sick of people telling me: 'I'm sorry Teck, I won't see it in a cinema because it's been massacred by the censors. I'll buy the pirate VCD because it will be uncut'."

The project, which earned the Netpac Award Special Mention at the 2000 Hawaii International Film Festival, has yet to recoup costs put at "under 2.5 million ringgit ($660,000)," all funded by private investors, Tan says.

"It's still too early, we still have quite a few markets to explore," he said, saying neighbors Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines all offer potential if a distributor could be found.

Asked whether his "Spinning Gasing" experience had cauterized his movie-making ambitions, Tan was equivocal.

"Yes, I would like to make another and yes I am planning to, but with all the disincentives, I would have to be crazy too. "I have not made up my mind, I'm doing TV commercials for the moment." (US$ - 3.8 ringgit)

Bronfman to quit Vivendi Universal in March

Edgar Bronfman Jr., the man responsible for turning his family's liquor business into one of the largest U.S. entertainment companies, resigned Thursday as executive vice chairman of Vivendi Universal, exactly one year after selling Seagram Co. to France's Vivendi SA for $30 billion.

During Bronfman's tenure as the head of Universal, he vastly expanded the company's music assets through the $10 billion acquisition of PolyGram. He also changed the profile of the studio by selling most of its TV assets to Barry Diller in 1997 in a strategy shift that was questioned by many in the industry and caught even his top managers by surprise.

Since the Vivendi merger, Bronfman, 46, had kept a lower profile in the company. He will remain vice chairman of Vivendi Universal's board and a "close adviser" to the company's chairman and CEO, Jean-Marie Messier, but will relinquish executive duties at the end of first-quarter 2002.

Many Vivendi observers have speculated that after the merger, a global powerhouse like Vivendi might be too small a nation for Bronfman and Messier to share power. However, Bronfman, in an interview Thursday with The Hollywood Reporter, indicated that his partnership with Messier was based on similar values and goals as well as mutual respect. "My relationship with Jean-Marie has been and is really excellent," he said. "And I think he worked very hard to keep me here."

Said Messier in a statement: "I deeply regret Edgar's decision but fully understand his wishes."

Bronfman said the decision was personal and based on his need for a new professional challenge that gives him more space to use his talents. "I have a broad set of skills, and it is not practical to apply them as broadly as I want here at Vivendi Universal," he said. "I am ready to climb another mountain."

Bronfman's family remains the largest single shareholder in Vivendi Universal, with about 3% of the stock. "As a representative of my father's family, we have no plans to sell Vivendi Universal shares in 2002," Bronfman said.

As executive vice chairman, Bronfman had responsibility for Vivendi Universal's music and Internet divisions, run by Doug Morris and Philippe Germond, respectively. It is not clear whether the company will name a successor, but in the interim, Morris and Germond will report to Messier.

Vivendi Universal shares showed little reaction to the news, with some analysts observing that Bronfman's departure removed any risk of managerial conflict.

"It's not a surprise, and it's not going to make much difference to the company," said Tom Burnett, president of Merger Insight, the research arm of Wall Street Access. "The market anticipated it, and I wouldn't advise anyone to buy or sell on this news."

Messier said Bronfman had played a "tremendously significant" role in integrating the companies following the merger. "He has been the architect behind the exceptional performance and leadership positions of Universal Studios in addition to creating the world's premiere music company, Universal Music Group," Messier said. "At the end of our first year, Vivendi Universal is in a very strong position, with solid performance in virtually every business."

Bronfman's experience integrating began early on in his career with a slew of risky acquisitions that ultimately transformed his company into a media powerhouse.

His initial foray into the entertainment world came through the purchase of a 14.9% stake in Time Warner Inc. for $2.2 billion in 1994, a move that struck enough fear into Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin that the company adopted a "poison pill" takeover defense upon rumor of the purchase. The policy entitled Time Warner to issue new shares at a discounted price if a hostile bidder acquired more than 15% of the company's holdings.

Bronfman followed up the Time Warner stock purchase with the $5.7 billion acquisition of 80% of MCA from Japan-based Matsushita three days after selling Seagram's stake in DuPont. A onetime songwriter, Bronfman's knowledge of the entertainment industry was still slim, and his stock plummeted 20% on news of the deal.

"I am really proud of the rebuilding of Universal Pictures, which was in complete disarray when we acquired it, and is now the best-run studio in Hollywood," Bronfman said. He also expressed contentment with Universal Music Group and its top positioning in the industry.

Turning Universal into a top entertainment player, however, took time. Although Bronfman was unable to lure Michael Ovitz to the top job at the studio in 1995, he did land another CAA co-founder, Ron Meyer, as president of Universal Studios. Bronfman also appointed Doug Morris, former chairman of Warner Music U.S., as chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group.

Bronfman spearheaded the controversial acquisition of Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field's Interscope Records in 1996. At that time, Interscope was under fire for violent lyrical content as a result of its distribution agreement with Death Row Records. The Morris appointment and the Interscope acquisition enabled Universal Music Group to declare itself a top player by moving from last to first in weekly album market share by the end of 1996.

"He really had the courage to allow us to buy Interscope and Def Jam, which were seminal purchases," Morris said. "Those were difficult things to do considering they were controversial labels."

That same year, Bronfman was engaged in a bitter legal battle with Viacom over the Universal-Viacom joint venture USA Networks. Seagram ended up buying the network from Viacom in September 1997, only to turn around and sell it to Diller and his Home Shopping Network.

The sale also caused chairman and CEO Frank Biondi, a former Viacom executive, to step down from his role after the TV division was pulled out from under him. Ron Meyer took over as head of entertainment operations, and between him and Stacey Snider, who became chair of Universal Pictures unit in 1999, the duo greenlit a slew of blockbusters, including "Jurassic Park," "Meet the Parents" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

"Edgar had the courage to buy PolyGram, which has resulted in what is now probably the most important record company in the history of the modern record business in terms of market share, profit and reach of the company," Morris said. "That's his doing."

UMG's market share stands at almost 30%. "I'm going to miss Edgar," Morris said. "He and I are pals. He's a soulful man. He's a rebel."

According to the statement released by Vivendi, Bronfman's contract included a get-out window that opened on the first anniversary of the merger.

Messier will now pursue his bullish drive to take Vivendi Universal into new strategic alliances in the entertainment and communications industries without a second-in-command. Messier led the 148-year-old water utility into its transformation to Europe's top media company. In September, the French executive moved to New York to raise Vivendi's profile among U.S. investors.

Bronfman is pleased with his work with Messier and other managers and trusts Messier to keep the conglomerate on a positive trajectory. "I am confident he will be extremely successful," Bronfman said. "My view of Vivendi Universal remains excellent."

Boxoffice Predictions For Ocean's Eleven

 The general economy may be mired in a never-ending funk, but the theatrical marketplace will not wallow long in its downturn. Last weekend's post-Thanksgiving breather -- which saw revenue slip below the $100 million mark for the first time in more than a month -- will be considered an end-of-year bottom once receipts for the remainder of 2001 are counted.

"Ocean's Eleven," which opens everywhere today, will be the catalyst for the move toward higher ground. The all-star remake has ignited a fire in the marketplace that even the distractions of the Christmas season are powerless to put out. That the first few weeks of December are not prime playtime is a time-tested truism. But here's another one: Compelling cinema draws moviegoers like a moth to the flame.

Sony's "Vertical Limit" ($18.7 million) was the top performer during the same weekend last year, a period that generated just $87.6 million in North American sales. That was then, and this is different.

Fear of labor unrest accelerated the pace of production this year, filling studio cupboards to overflowing with A-list product. These attractive titles must be released before the cost of carrying them on the books exceeds their bloated budgets -- and while exposure to holiday playoff can maximize potential profits.

The result will be an awesome finale to 2001. "Ocean's" is merely the first in what looks like a line--up of top-performing product stretching to the first of the year and beyond.

AOL Time Warner, the parent company of "Ocean's" distributor Warner Bros., should don sunglasses its immediate future is so bright. With its "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" steaming toward $300 million by year's end and "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" from its New Line subsidiary set to scorch the theatrical tundra later in the month, champagne corks will be popping in the company's corporate suites.

"Ocean's" ensemble cast represents a who's-who of filmgoer favorites. George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt are three of the most popular performers in show business, while Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Don Cheadle and Elliott Gould all bring solid followings. Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic") directed the remake of the 1960 feature about a gang of dashing thieves with designs on the cash hordes of Las Vegas' biggest casinos.

Mature moviegoers are the most motivated, but audiences of all ages are engaged. Expect a jaw-dropping three-day figure.

IFC's "The Business of Strangers" plays New York and Los Angeles beginning today. Patrick Stettner wrote and directed the thriller about a successful business---- wo-man (Stock-ard Channing) and her assistant (Julia Stiles) who mess with the mind of a dim-witted businessman (Fred Weller) while all three are stuck overnight in an airport hotel.

Three features open exclusively in New York: Cowboy's "Final," UA's "No Man's Land" and Strand's "Princesa."

Directed by Campbell Scott, "Final" is a sci-fi drama about a mental patient (Denis Leary) who believes he has been transported 400 years into the future where his attendants plan to off him via fatal injection. Written and directed by Danis Tanovic, "Land" is a satirical drama about two opposing soldiers (Branko Djuric and Rene Bitorajac) trapped together in a Bosnian trench with a spring-loaded bomb. "Princesa," directed and co-written by Henrique Goldman, is an Italian- and Portugese-language drama about a prostitute (Ingrid de Souza) who dreams of falling in love.

Sony Pictures Classics' "Last Orders" and Miramax's "Baran" both play one-week Oscar-qualifying runs in Los Angeles only. Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, David Hemmings, Tom Courtenay and Helen Mirren star in "Orders," a satirical comedy directed by Fred Schepisi. "Baran" is a drama about life in Afghanistan written and directed by Majid Majidi.

Blue Steel opens "Kids World" in limited release today. Dale G. Bradley directed the family comedy-adventure starring Christopher Lloyd and Blake Foster.

Zeal shows enthusiasm for Euro co-productions

The US production outfit Zeal Pictures Group, which was behind the 1998 feature Simpatico with Sharon Stone, Nick Nolte, Albert Finney, and Jeff Bridges, has launched a European production company, Zeal Pictures Europe GmbH & Co. KG, based in Berlin.

The German outpost plans to develop international and European co-productions, as well as raise finance for its feature projects in Hollywood and expand its commercials production through subsidiary Centrifuge.

US parent company, Zeal Pictures, Inc. is currently shooting a digitally-produced documentary Robbers, starring Kevin Koteleer (Men In Black II), Frank John Hughes (Band Of Brothers) and Vyto Ruginis (The Fast And The Furious), and has projects in development including feature adaptations of David Payne’s novel Early From The Dance, Rose Tremain’s bestseller The Way I Found Her, and Peter Sagal’s theatre play Denial.

Zeal Pictures, Inc. was founded by German producer Timm Oberwelland and his Canadian-Greek partner Leon Melas in Hollywood in 1994. Zeal recently co-produced, with Warfront Pictures and Scott Free, a 13-part live-action docu-series American Fighter about three US Air Force student pilots which will be aired in primetime on CBS from January 2002.

Fox signs Indian feature co-production deal

Rupert Murdoch's 20^th Century Fox has developed a deal with Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) to produce English-language movies in India.

The agreement, of which details have yet to be disclosed, includes the co-production of English as well as Hindi language films to be made in India. PNC's credits include high-profile titles such as the Hindi film Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi and Merchant Ivory's Mystic Masseur as co-producer

PNC is currently producing Kaante, a hard-edged thriller to be directed by Sanjay Gupta, shot on location in Los Angeles and featuring an ensemble cast of Indian stars including Amitabh Bachchan, Sunil Shetty, Sanjay Dutt, Lucky Ali, Kumar Gaurav and Mahesh Manjrekar.

The company has also acquired rights to Bollywood Calling, an English language comedy starring Pat Cusack, Om Puri and Perizaad Zorabian, directed by Nagesh Kukunoor.

Fox had previously signed a similar deal with India United Television to co-produce feature films using Star TV as a distribution channel.