DreamWorks Nabs Japanese Horror Video Game 'Fatal Frame'

With a horror franchise in mind, DreamWorks has picked up exclusive film rights to the Japanese video game "Fatal Frame."

The game, which hit store shelves in March, revolves around a woman's search for her mysteriously missing brother, which leads her to a haunted mansion, armed only with an antique camera that lets her see ghosts. The Tecmo release, available only on Sony's PlayStation 2, has received critical acclaim as one of the best horror games on the market.

"Our plan is to take the scariest video game of all time and transport that vision -- complete with all the tension, fear and storyline intact -- to the bigscreen for everyone to experience." said DreamWorks production chief Michael De Luca.

There is not yet a script or a writer attached to the project.

Horror games lately have been catching the eyes of many filmmakers, with titles like "Resident Evil," "House of the Dead" and "Silent Hill" quickly being picked up and rushed into development.

The "Fatal Frame" announcement was made at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (aka E3), the video game industry's annual confab, which wraps Friday at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

'The ManWho Grew Young' Gets Timeless At Universal

Universal has optioned the graphic novel "The Man Who Grew Young" for Tom Shadyac's studio-based Shady Acres and has tapped author-screenwriter Daniel Wallace to adapt and expand the project into a feature film titled "Timeless."

The novel, written by author Daniel Quinn, is the story of a man who wakes up in a world where time has stopped and started going backward -- for everybody but him.

The project, being developed as a possible directing vehicle for Shadyac, is being shepherded by Shady Acres producer Michael Bostick and development executive Amanda Morgan Palmer. The duo was introduced to the novel by Bostick's assistant, Greg Messina.

Bostick sent a copy of the novel to Wallace, author of the book "Big Fish," now being developed into a feature film at Columbia Pictrues with Tim Burton directing. Wallace read the novel and developed a take on the project, which Shady Acres subsequently bought.

"From the moment we laid eyes on Quinn's graphic novel, we were compelled by the provocative themes, great visuals and the unique character who finds himself living life in reverse," Bostick said. "As fans of Wallace's novels, we became excited about working with him as a screenwriter after reading a script he wrote in just three weeks. Marrying Wallace's imagination and gift of storytelling with Quinn's original source material felt like the perfect combination to mine the possibilities of what we believe will ultimately be a very big movie."

Wallace said: "I like the concept of the graphic novel because it's so rich. There is so much you can play with in a world in which everyone is getting younger, and yet one person is not. I thought about what I could do with it, and a romantic comedy was something I felt a stronger attraction to. The theme, as I see it, is that time is not a constant, but love is, which is something the man discovers as he re-experiences his life."

Universal president Scott Stuber and production vp Holly Barrio are overseeing the project at the studio.

UTA reps Shadyac, Shady Acres and Wallace. Wallace is additionally repped by his book agent Joe Regal at Regal Literary. Quinn's deal was brokered by Beau Friedlander at CŒontext Books in New York.

Larry Charles To Direct Comedy Feature, 'The Bond'

Larry Charles will direct an improvisational buddy comedy feature, "The Bond," for Gavin Polone's Pariah and Senator Entertainment.

Charles is no stranger to directing improv material as he is a helmer on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which uses a similar format.

"Bond" is expected to go into production sometime after Charles wraps shooting his feature directorial debut on Intermedia Films' "Masked & Anonymous," starring Bob Dylan. No cast is yet attached to "Bond."

"Bond," which Charles will direct from a detailed outline he created, is about Lenny, an uptight family man whose ne'er-do-well friend Billy is jailed for having too many parking tickets. Out of the goodness of his heart, Lenny puts his house up as collateral to make Billy's bail. When Billy is released, however, the scheming bondsman -- in an attempt to collect on the house -- kidnaps the man, so he misses his court date, and the house goes to the bondsman.

Senator is financing the project, which is budgeted at less than $10 million. Charles, repped by Endeavor, is a writer, producer and director in television whose work includes "Seinfeld," "Mad About You," "Dilbert" and "The Tick."

Release 'Blue Crush' on Friday, August 16

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment will release "Blue Crush," the romantic adventure from Academy Award®-winning producer Brian Grazer, on Friday, August 16, it was announced by Nikki Rocco, president, Universal Pictures Distribution. Directed by John Stockwell and starring Kate Bosworth ("The Horse Whisperer"), Michelle Rodriguez ("The Fast and the Furious") and Matthew Davis ("Legally Blonde"), the film was previously scheduled to open July 12.

In announcing the date change, Ms. Rocco said, "We feel that opening 'Blue Crush' on August 16 gives us a tremendous opportunity to make this the movie event of late summer. We're confident that we can really own the marketplace -- not just on opening weekend, but also in the weeks that follow, exactly as we were able to do two years ago with 'Bring It On.' From a personal standpoint, I'm extremely proud to be associated with 'Blue Crush,' a film that brilliantly captures what it takes for a woman to compete successfully in a man's world."

She added, "This move will also allow us to expose our marketing materials during the heavy summer movie-going months of June, July and early August."

Co-starring Sanoe Lake, Mika Boorem and Faizon Love, "Blue Crush" was written by Lizzy Weiss and John Stockwell from a story by Weiss. The film was produced by Grazer and Karen Kehela; Buffy Shutt, Kathy Jones and Louis G. Friedman are the executive producers.

Nothing gets between Anne Marie (Bosworth) and her board. Living in a beach shack on Oahu with three roommates including her rebellious younger sister, she is up before dawn every morning to conquer the waves and count the days until the Pipe Masters surf competition. Working as a hotel maid to pay the bills, Anne Marie finds everything else she needs in the adrenaline- charged surf scene ... until pro quarterback Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis) comes along. Like it or not, Anne Marie starts losing her balance -- and finding it -- as she falls for Matt.

Crafted by filmmakers dedicated to the sport, "Blue Crush" brings together world-class surfers in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes, and features some of the best sequences of women surfing ever captured on film.

Television; David Greenwalt To Ink A One-Year, Seven-Figure Deal With Touchstone Television

"Angel" co-creator and executive producer David Greenwalt is in final negotiations to ink a one-year, seven-figure deal with Touchstone Television to join the studio's new ABC drama "Miracles" as showrunner.

Greenwalt will also continue on 20th Century Fox TV's "Angel," which he co-created with Joss Whedon, as a creative consultant. Sources said David Simkins is expected to be named showrunner of the WB Network series, which will begin its fourth season in the fall. 20th TV declined comment on the matter Thursday.

"An unexpected thing happened to me when I first read and then saw the pilot for 'Miracles,' which is that I fell in love," Greenwalt said. "It's got everything -- it asks the big questions about existence, it's got irony and danger and horror and hope, and these are all the things that I love."

On "Miracles," a co-production with Spyglass Entertainment, Greenwalt will serve as an executive producer with Richard Hatem, Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber. The show about a young man (Skeet Ulrich) assigned to find scientific basis for reports of miracles was picked up for midseason.

While he is excited about the new opportunity on "Miracles," Greenwalt said the decision to leave active duties on "Angel," a show "very near and a dear to my heart," was difficult.

Whedon, executive producer of "Angel" and creator/executive producer of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," who has worked with Greenwalt since the inception of "Buffy" in 1997, said he was "all broken up" by the news of Greenwalt's departure.

"It's a good move for him; he's still gonna consult for 'Angel,' so that's good for me, but it's killing me," Whedon said. "I'm losing a great writer, a great producer, a great director and a guy without whom I have yet to make an hour of TV. He's the real deal, and there aren't that many of those."

Greenwalt will still be involved in some of the most important parts of the production process on "Angel," including breaking the stories.

The pact with Touchstone comes as Greenwalt's overall deal with 20th TV, where he said he spent "six very happy and productive years," comes to an end.

In addition to working on "Angel" and "Buffy," Greenwalt's TV series credits include "Profit," which he co-created, and "The Wonder Years." He began his career as a screenwriter in the 1980s, co-writing several movies, including "Secret Admirer," which he also directed. Greenwalt is repped by Robert Gumer of Kaplan-Stahler-Gumer and attorney Alan Hergott.

Simkins, who has an overall deal with 20th TV, most recently was a consulting producer on "Roswell" and "Dark Angel." He also was an executive producer/showrunner on "Freaky Links." His credits include "Charmed" and "Vengeance Unlimited."

Cannes 2002; Gaspar Noe Defends 'Irreversible' Against Critic Outrage

Franco-Argentine director Gaspar Noe leapt to the defense of his grotesquely violent and sexually explicit film "Irreversible" Friday, saying it was just a movie and people didn't have to go see it.

 The film provoked outrage and disgust at a screening for critics Thursday night, with several in the audience leaving the auditorium before it was over and reviewers describing it as "sick," "gratuitous" and "brutal."

Local newspapers ran banner headlines calling the film the scandal of the festival and at least one, the national tabloid Aujourd'hui, urged readers to boycott it.

But the director, who describes himself as "an image fetishist," said the alarm was overblown, and one of his actors, Frenchman Vincent Cassel, said Cannes was just trying to create a furor.

"If people don't want to see it, that's fine. I have walked out of films too. It's not every day that you want to see this kind of thing," Noe, 38, told a packed and sometimes heated news conference, where bodyguards hovered at the doors.

"I have made a film that I like and that is that. If people want to talk about scandal, that is for them."

Cassel plays a drug-crazed man bent on violent revenge against a twisted pimp who has raped and disfigured his girlfriend, played by his real-life wife Monica Bellucci.

"We have done nothing to create scandal," Cassel said. "Cannes has tried to create a scandal because perhaps Cannes needs a scandal."

SHOCKING AND DISTURBING

The film is undeniably shocking and disturbing. The script consists almost entirely of expletives directed against homosexuals and women, and the scene in which Bellucci is raped lasts nearly 10 minutes.

"I think people felt violated," said Patrick McGavin, a film critic for the Chicago Tribune newspaper. "It's ugly and there is a lot in it that is gratuitous. It's profoundly unsettling. It goes too far."

Shown anti-chronologically -- the violent conclusion first and sequences then taking the viewer back through events -- the film delivers a stomach-churning opening punch set in "Rectum," a sado-masochist gay club.

While much is repugnant, the film's structure does create a context in which the main character's manic anger and violence is believable.

"This film is about vengeance," said the sultry Bellucci, 33, who delighted audiences last year in "Malena." "It takes us into a violent world, a space from which we can't escape, that is irreversible. The film is not a crime, it is about a crime."

Noe said: "This is just a movie, it doesn't really change anything in the world," adding that he didn't expect U.S. distributors to take it. "It is part of the knowledge of man to know the beast that lies within and to reject it."

While the director and actors tried calmly to justify the movie to the press, they said they expected an uneasy reception when it receives its official screening Friday night.

"When you make a movie like this you have to expect a tough response," said Cassel. "If everybody liked it then I would find that really weird."

Legal; Advanced Medien has reached a settlement with Wolfgang Petersen

Advanced Medien has reached a settlement with "The Perfect Storm" director Wolfgang Petersen, who had sued the German firm in August 2001 for underfunding his Red Cliff Prods., which was set up as a joint venture under a five-year multimillion-dollar deal.

The settlement sees both parties abandon their suits, which were filed in an American civil court, as well as the mutual waiver of their contractual claims. At the same time, an agreement has been reached for the liquidation of Red Cliff. Further settlement details were undisclosed.

The deal allegedly required Advanced to provide overhead funding to Red Cliff of $7.5 million in five annual installments and development funding of $12 million in eight semi-annual installments. Advanced was also required to put up a letter of credit for $5 million.

According to the original complaint, Advanced never provided the letter of credit, instead belatedly providing a $3 million letter of credit. In addition, Advanced owed an installment of $1.3 million in development funding.

The complaint also alleged causes of action for breach of contract and fraud and sought damages and the right to terminate the contract.

Legal; Brad Grey grilled on 'Scary' lawsuit

Brad Grey, chairman and CEO of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, told a Los Angeles Superior Court jury Thursday that he believed producer Bo Zenga would have only "peripheral involvement" with the Brillstein-Grey/Miramax film "Scary Movie," which is the focus of a lawsuit brought by Zenga against Brillstein-Grey.

Grey was on the stand nearly four hours. Zenga's suit, filed in July 2000, claims that he was recruited to work on the original script for "Scary Movie" but that Brillstein-Grey ultimately reneged on promises that he would have a profit-participation stake and producer credit on the horror movie spoof. "Scary Movie" took in $157 million at the domestic boxoffice in 2000.

Much of the questioning of Grey on Thursday before Judge Robert O'Brien revolved around correspondence that Zenga's attorneys maintain indicated that Zenga would be treated as a producer on "Scary Movie." Grey was questioned at length by Zenga's attorney Greg Dovel about e-mails, letters and memos exchanged among Zenga, Grey and Brillstein-Grey manager Peter Safron, who represented the original screenwriters on the project that became "Scary Movie."

The suit claims that Safron entered into an oral agreement with Zenga that promised him a producer credit and an equal partnership with Brillstein-Grey on the film and that a subsequent e-mail, dated October 1998, from Safron to Grey reinforced that claim.

Dovel peppered Grey with questions regarding the correspondence as well as the nature of oral agreements within the industry. He also questioned Grey as to whether Safron had the authority to allow Zenga to enter into a partnership agreement with Brillstein-Grey Entertainment on "Scary Movie."

Grey repeated throughout his testimony that he could "not recall" the correspondence that took place in 1998. Grey said he believed at the time that Zenga would have a "peripheral involvement" in the film and then later said Zenga would serve "in some producorial capacity." Grey also said the lengths of his oral agreements prior to being documented depended upon how "familiar" he is with the person.

Zenga, who is married to Zorianna Kit, senior film reporter at The Hollywood Reporter, cannot testify at trial because he invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to court-ordered questions during the pretrial proceedings.

Dovel said he will finish his examination of Grey this morning and is expected to rest the case soon after, at which point the presentation of evidence by the defense will begin.