Reese Witherspoon Is Attaching Herself To Star In "Original Gangsta Bitches"

Reese Witherspoon is attaching herself to star in Universal Pictures/Jersey Films' action-comedy "Original Gangsta Bitches."

There is no director on board yet. Terms of the actress' deal are being negotiated, sources have confirmed.

The project, described as a cross between "Thelma & Louise" and "Rush Hour," is a female heist picture about a mild-mannered white woman (Witherspoon) who teams with a street-smart black woman who teaches her how to use her God-given talents to get what she wants from men and the world.

"Gangsta" was originally picked up for Jersey by Universal as a pitch from Lisa Schrager, who subsequently wrote the material. Larry Kennar also is producing with Jersey. Universal Pictures production president Mary Parent and production vp Tim O'Hair are overseeing.

Witherspoon, repped by WMA and Talent Entertainment Group, next stars in the Walt Disney Co.'s "Sweet Home Alabama" and Miramax Films' "The Importance of Being Earnest." Jersey next produces New Line Cinema's "Simone" from writer-director Andrew Niccol.

Ryne Douglas Pearson has sold a pitch for Godspeed

Author-screenwriter Ryne Douglas Pearson has sold a pitch for an action-adventure set in outer space to James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment for mid-six figures. The project, tentatively titled "Godspeed," will be produced by Cameron with Lightstorm president Rae Sanchini and co-president Jon Landeau. The deal was sealed when Lightstorm made a preemptive bid for the pitch under its overall deal with 20th Century Fox.

The deal is the latest in a string of impressive attachments for Pearson, who wrote the script for the thriller "Knowing" and recently sealed a deal to adapt the Ken Follett novel "Code for Zero" for Columbia Pictures.

Pearson gained attention in Hollywood by selling screen rights to his own novels, "Simple Simon," which was adapted into "Mercury Rising," and "Top 10," which was bought by producer Mark Canton.

Tony Shalhoub and Tim Daly, Against the Ropes

Tony Shalhoub and Tim Daly have been cast in lead roles in Paramount Pictures/Franchise Films' "Against the Ropes" a biopic on the life of female boxing manager Jackie Kallen that will mark the feature directorial debut of actor Charles S. Dutton. The project beings shooting at the end of March.

"Ropes" stars Meg Ryan as Kallen, a hard-nosed manager from Detroit who has guided the careers of several boxers and is now the commissioner of the International Female Boxers Assn.

Daly will play Gavin Ross, a reporter with a struggling local sports station in Detroit who tracks Kallen's career but also has feelings for her. Shalhoub will play boxing promoter Sam Lasalle.

Robert Cort ("Save the Last Dance") is producing the project. Daly, repped by UTA, Artists Management Group and attorney Howard Abramson, is currently shooting Columbia Pictures' "Basic."

Shalhoub, repped by UTA, next stars in 20th Century Fox/Regency Enterprises' "Life or Something Like It," Columbia Pictures' "Men in Black 2," Dimension Films' "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams" and USA Network's "Monk."

Ralph Fiennes opposite Chambermaid Jennifer Lopez

Ralph Fiennes will star as the male lead opposite Jennifer Lopez in Revolution Studios' "Chambermaid" for director Wayne Wang. The project will go into production at the end of April for a Christmas 2002 release.

"Chambermaid," a Cinderella tale set in New York, follows a woman (Lopez) who takes a job as a chambermaid in a luxury hotel. She meets and falls in love with a handsome, debonair heir to an American political dynasty (Fiennes) who is staying there. The man mistakes her for a society woman, and she soon finds herself gaining insight into the life of a man she might otherwise have judged from a distance. When her real identity is revealed, however, the truth sets in about the disparity of their lives.

John Hughes wrote the original draft of the screenplay, which is being produced by Revolution-based Shoelace Prods. Revolution partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas is overseeing.

Fiennes, repped by CAA, is currently shooting Universal Pictures' "Red Dragon." He next stars in David Cronenberg's feature "Spider" and Neil Jordan's "Double Down." Fiennes is a double Academy Award nominee for his work in "Schindler's List" and "The English Patient." Other credits include "Sunshine" and "The End of the Affair."

Jennifer Garner a Catch for Spielberg

Golden Globe-winning actress Jennifer Garner has landed a small role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in DreamWorks' "Catch Me If You Can" for helmer Steven Spielberg.

The actress will shoot the project concurrently with her commitment to the ABC series "Alias" -- in production -- and before she segues into the female lead in 20th Century Fox-Regency Enterprises' big-screen adaptation of "Daredevil," which she begins shooting May 1.

"Catch," a cat-and-mouse story, centers on Frank Abagnale Jr. (DiCaprio), who worked as a doctor, lawyer and co-pilot for a major airline -- all before his 18th birthday. A master of deception, he also was a brilliant forger, leading him to become the most successful bank robber in the history of the United States and the youngest person to land on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Garner will play a classy, gorgeous call girl who catches Abagnale's eye.

Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen are among those who co-star. Jeff Nathanson adapted the script, which is based on the autobiographical book of the same name by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding.

Spielberg and DreamWorks head Walter Parkes are producing, with Barry Kemp, Laurie MacDonald, Michel Shane and Tony Romano executive producing. Daniel Lupi is co-producing.

Garner, repped by the Endeavor Agency, most recently starred on the big screen in the Walt Disney Co.'s "Pearl Harbor." She won a best actress Golden Globe last month for her performance on "Alias."

Nathalie Ribout, the next film by Anne Fontaine

Emmanuelle Beart and Fanny Ardant, currently together on the French screens in Francois Ozon’s musical whodunit 8 Femmes, are to co-star in Nathalie Ribout, the next film by Anne Fontaine.

Currently at script stage, Nathalie Ribout will go before the cameras in 2003, produced by Les Films Alain Sarde, in which Vivendi Universal holds a controlling 49% stake, through StudioCanal.

Fanny Ardant, who has finished shooting Liria Begeja’s Change Moi Ma Vie, will play next Maria Callas, in Franco Zeferelli’s Callas Forever which is to start shooting in April 2002.

Antoine Fuqua to Direct Ludlum's The Sigma Protocol

 As it readies its adaptation of the Robert Ludlum novel "The Bourne Identity" for a summer release, Universal Pictures has made a deal for the late author's final book, "The Sigma Protocol," a thriller to be developed as a directing vehicle for "Training Day" helmer Antoine Fuqua.

The novel follows American investment banker Ben Hartman who arrives in Zurich for a ski holiday, the first time he's been back to Switzerland since his twin brother died there in a tragic accident four years earlier. But his arrival in Zurich triggers something far more sinister than his brother's fate. When Ben chances upon Jimmy Cavanaugh, an old college friend, Cavanaugh promptly pulls out a gun and tries to kill him. In a matter of minutes, several innocent bystanders are dead - as well as Cavanaugh - and Ben has barely managed to survive. Plunged into an unspeakable nightmare, Hartman suddenly finds himself on the run.

Department of Justice field agent Anna Navarro is being stalked around the world by a relentless killer, managing to survive the killer's attacks only by a combination of luck, skill and her own quick wits. These attacks are somehow related to her current assignment: investigating the sudden - and seemingly unrelated - deaths of a number of very old men throughout the world. The only thing that connects them is a file in the CIA archives, over a half-century old, marked with the same puzzling code word: SIGMA. But someone or something is always seemingly one step ahead of her, the survivors are rapidly dwindling, and her own life is in ever increasing danger.

Brought together by accident, Ben and Anna soon realize that their only hope of survival lies with each other. Together they race to uncover the diabolical secrets long hidden behind the codeworld, Sigma. Secrets that threaten everything they think they know about themselves, everything they believed true about their friends and families, and everything they were ever taught about history itself. For behind Sigma lies a vast deception that is finally coming to fruition and the fate and future of the world is in their hands.

Fuqua got involved because he's long been a fan of Ludlum's fiction, with its trademark of global espionage and politics, and sparked to the idea of directing one.

Fuqua is thriving after moving from videos to features. Although genre films are generally ignored at Oscar time, "Training Day" nabbed Academy Award nominations for both Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke.

Fuqua will next direct Bruce Willis in the drama "Man of War" and also is developing "Bloods," the Wallace Terry book about black soldiers in Vietnam, as well as "White Out," based on DEA agent Jerry Speziale's undercover work that helped dismantle the Cali drug cartel in Colombia.

Judgment Issued Against Intertainment Licensing GmbH in Favor of Franchise Pictures

A judge of the Superior Court of the State of California today confirmed a judgment in excess of $6,500,000 against Intertainment Licensing GmbH, a subsidiary of the publicly traded Intertainment AG of Munich, Germany in connection with a dispute arising out of a distribution agreement between that company and Franchise Pictures for the motion picture ``Caveman's Valentine,'' which was distributed in the United States by Universal Pictures. In a long-running dispute between Franchise and Intertainment, Franchise has claimed that Intertainment defaulted on its obligations with respect to various pictures, including ``Caveman's Valentine.''

The judge's ruling was a confirmation of an arbitration award against Intertainment on December 11, 2001. In such prior arbitration, the arbitrator ruled that the picture had been delivered in full conformity with the license agreement.

Said Elie Samaha, CEO of Franchise Pictures: ``We are vindicated by the conclusions reached by both the arbitrator and the judge.''

Franchise Pictures is a motion picture production and distribution company engaged in the production and world-wide licensing of high-profile, mainstream pictures. Upcoming films include ``City By the Sea'' starring Robert DeNiro and Francis McDormand; the action-adventure ``Ecks vs. Sever'' starring Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu; and the comedy ``Til Death Do Us Part'' starring Michael Douglas, all of which will be distributed domestically by Franchise's North American distributor, Warner Bros. Soon to be released by Columbia Pictures is the Company's ``Half Past Dead'' starring Steven Seagal.

The Audience For "Black Hawk Down" Was 40% Women

We Were Soldiers, a movie opening Friday March 1, 2002 about U.S. soldiers trapped in the first major battle of Vietnam, is just one combatant in a battalion of cinematic war stories. But these are not your father's war movies -- even if some of them may be about your father's war. Like the landmark Saving Private Ryan and the still-in-theaters Black Hawk Down, Soldiers concentrates on an unblinking, brutal portrait of battle.

''I wanted to do We Were Soldiers because it treated the subject with far less cynicism than has been juggled around in Hollywood before,'' says star Mel Gibson.(Click for Interview)

Adds writer/director Randall Wallace, who also wrote Gibson's Braveheart: ''It was my absolute commitment to strip politics completely out of the film and to tell the truth. There are as many stories about Vietnam as there were men who went to war. But to me what was inescapable was the truth that soldiers are human beings. I know that seems obvious. But the politics of the Vietnam War created a blindness in all of us. It was easy to ignore the humanity of the soldiers.''

Not all of the upcoming war movies take such a bracingly violent approach, but those that do might do well.

Analysts say the success of Black Hawk Down, which has grossed nearly $100 million, proves there's an audience for this kind of war movie during a time of war. Black Hawk depicts a battle plan that goes wrong, stranding elite U.S. soldiers in Mogadishu, Somalia. It is based on a horrific true event that most Americans know little about -- yet they flocked to see it.

Like Black Hawk, Soldiers is based on a real, documented battle. But Gibson would prefer that Soldiers not be lumped in with the earlier film. He thinks Black Hawk, which downplayed the soldiers' individualism, failed to involve the audience emotionally.

''It was one long commercial,'' Gibson says. Yet the moviegoers have spoken, says Emanuel Levy, author of Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film. ''The American public is embracing war movies,'' he says.

Levy thinks the war movies that moviegoers want are this new type. He correctly predicted, before it opened, that the recent World War II film Hart's War would flop partly because it was too old-fashioned. ''But Mel Gibson is Mel Gibson, so I'm sure that his movie will do better,'' he says.

''The audience for Black Hawk Down was 40% women'' the first weekend the movie was in wide release, says Dergarabedian, who credits the war on terrorism with drawing a much wider group of moviegoers to war films. ''Even if this is a difficult thing to watch, people are thinking, 'If our boys are willing to go over there and go through this, we could at least try to understand what they're going through.' ''

Wallace says that women at test screenings rank Soldiers higher than do men -- and all rank it even higher than Braveheart, which went on to be a blockbuster and Oscar winner.

That leads him to believe that ''America is showing a trend away from frivolity. The audience is hungry for stories of substance.''

Alicia Keys scores at Grammys

(Click Here for Full List Winners) The 44th annual Grammy Awards Wednesday had weightier issues to contend with as artists and performers sought to soothe the nation with humor and song after a year of turmoil within the music industry and in the United States.

From heightened security, to performers' songs and to host Jon Stewart's jokes, the devastating attacks on America of Sept. 11 hovered in the background of the music industry's most glamorous night.

When Stewart came onstage at the Staples Center, he walked through a dummy metal detector, which gonged off and sent huge security guards to his side. After repeated tries and frisks, Stewart was finally stripped down to his briefs when he proclaimed "Welcome to the Grammys " to roars of laughter.

Other artists bared their souls in ballads, while others bared their flesh. In winning for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Lady Marmalade," Christina Aguilera and Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink, were all scantily clad in hot pants and bustiers and they thanked everyone including their mothers.

On a more serious note, artists ranging from U2, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett and Alan Jackson all performed songs inspired by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or other political injustices.

Piano man Billy Joel and crooner Tony Bennett performed a rendition of Joel's ballad "New York State of Mind," to rousing applause. Afterwards, Stewart reminded the audience how music was among the first things celebrated once the Taliban, which had prohibited the playing of music, was vanquished in Afghanistan.

"When Afghanistan was liberated, one of the first things that happened was that music was played on the streets and three days later, even they were sick of Creed," he joked, referring to the hot-selling rock group that has been omnipresent on the radio airwaves.

New R&B singer Alicia Keys was the big winner of the evening, nabbing trophies for the coveted best new artist and song of the year races, while the hit country-themed soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" was the surprise winner for album of the year award. Irish rock band U2 also picked up several awards, including best rock album.

U2 played their anthem-like song, "Walk On," which is dedicated to Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi and which earned the band a record of the year Grammy Award.

PRAISE FOR GOODWILL

The group has been praised for its goodwill efforts this year by performing at concerts and the Super Bowl before a backdrop of the names of victims who perished on Sept. 11.

U2's lead singer Bono said this year he had rediscovered his love of America.

"This year, it was a very different America. As guests of the nation we have always loved coming here, but this year I've rediscovered my love of America, the great idea as opposed to the great country," he told reporters backstage.

Expressing regret at how people in some parts of the world actually cheered after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bono said, "The idea of America has gone away in the last while. I actually believe the idea will catch on in the wake of this tragedy and people will rediscover what it's all about."

Country star Alan Jackson performed his hit single, "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," his reflection on the Sept. 11 attacks, Jackson wrote the song in late October, shortly before the Country Music Association awards show.

This year's Grammys were a big departure from last year's show, which was consumed with a controversy generated by accused homophobe rapper Eminem and his plan to perform a duet with gay rock star Elton John. The John-Eminem performance ended as an anticlimax after all the buildup, while the previous year's show was ultimately upstaged by hoopla surrounding Jennifer Lopez's eye-popping gown.

The top music awards also come amid one of the worst years in recent history for the industry.

Album sales declined for the first time in 10 years last year, due in part to a dearth of hot selling new stars as well as an increases in online music piracy.

"No other time than now in our history have we turned to music for comfort, solace and sweet celebration," said Michael Greene, chief of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), which hosts the Grammys.

But Greene also spoke at length about the threat of online piracy, which denies recording companies and artists coveted royalties. "This illegal file-sharing is out of control and oh so criminal," he said. "Songwriters, singers, musicians. The entire music food chain is at risk," he said.

J.Lo Remix Tops Charts in Languid Week

Music fans found their savior in Kirk Franklin this week, vaunting his most recent effort "The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin" (Gospocentric) to a surprisingly buoyant fourth-place finish in an otherwise languid week for U.S. album sales. His disc, which includes a mix of studio cuts and live tracks, sold just under 91,000 copies in its debut week, according to Soundscan data. Those numbers would normally consign a record to the latter half of the top 20, but sales for the week just ended were at low ebb, with all of the returning top-20 performers coming in below the previous week's tallies.

That included this week's No. 1, the dance remix compilation "J To Tha Lo!" (Epic) from actress-R&B diva Jennifer Lopez. The set rebounded from third place last week, but sales actually slumped 25 percent to 102,000 units.

The overall sales downturn had a similar effect on other superstars: "Hybrid Theory" (Warner), from rap-metal confection Linkin Park, jumped from fourth to second even as sales fell 19 percent, and Britney Spears eponymous third LP (Jive) moved ahead five places to ninth despite an 8 percent sales slump.

GRAMMY BUMP?

To console themselves for the week's lackluster numbers, record sellers looked forward to the celebrated Grammy bump. Acts that won big at Wednesday night's pop-music kudocast -- and those who simply delivered a strong live performance onstage -- are likely to see a healthy boost in sales in the coming week.

Among those that could see a boost from Grammy praise are Irish superstars U2, singers India.Arie and Alicia Keys, as well as the wildly successful "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (Lost Highway) soundtrack.

The only new release to crack into the top 50 this week was the soundtrack to "Queen of the Damned" (Warner), the Anne Rice-penned vampire film starring deceased R&B star Aaliyah, which landed at No. 39. Ironically, the singer's voice appears nowhere on the album, which is populated by such hard-rock heavies as Papa Roach, Orgy and Disturbed.