• Nicole Kidman Gets Romantic With Jim Carrey.
• John Woo's Red Skies to USA Network
• Halle Berry Is Set To Be The Next Bond Girl.
• Russell Crowe, Imagine tunneling into 'Hogan' feature
• Roland Emmerich joins rookie scribe's 'Peace' corps
• Tripoli For Twentieth Century Fox
• The Jetsons A Live-Action Version Will Be Directed By Rob Minkoff
• Singer Mya Locked Up For 'Chicago'
• ThinkFilm buys The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys
• Studios, networks convene Hollywood war council
• Sundance Opening Slots Go To ' The Laramie Project'.
• Hollywood unions divided over runaway remedy
• Mediability First Casualty Among The Recent Wave Of German Private Media Funds
• Paramount Taps Latest German Fund

• Previous Days

  • Monday Nov 26
  • Tuesday Nov 27

Nicole Kidman Gets Romantic With Jim Carrey.

Nicole Kidman is in negotiations to star opposite Jim Carrey in Universal Pictures untitled romantic comedy feature for writer-director Gary Ross, who also is producing the project through his Larger Than Life Prods. along with Jersey Films. Production is scheduled to begin in March for a Christmas 2002 release.

Kidman first will star in Lars von Trier's "Dogville," scheduled to go into production at the beginning of next year. She is expected to follow that with Miramax Films/Lakeshore Entertainment's "The Human Stain" opposite Anthony Hopkins for director Robert Benton. It is not clear how the Ross-helmed feature will fit into her schedule.

The project, previously titled "Dog Years," is described as a rich, lush romantic comedy set in New York about a man (Carrey) whose dead wife (Kidman) comes back to haunt him, forcing him to confront the "ghosts" in their relationship.

The project is based on an original screenplay by Ross, who developed it with Jersey for about a year. Jersey partners Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher are producing with Ross, whose credits include "Pleasantville."

Kidman, repped by CAA, next stars in Paramount Pictures' "The Hours" and the Miramax feature "Birthday Girl." The Kidman starrers "Moulin Rouge" and "The Others" will be rereleased by year's end for Academy Award consideration.

John Woo's Red Skies to USA Network

Hong Kong feature director John Woo is taking his brand of hyperkinetic choreographed action to USA Network.

The cable network has ordered "Red Skies," an action dramedy pilot starring Vivian Wu ("The Pillow Book") and executive produced by Woo, his producing partner Terence Chang, writer John Rogers ("American Outlaws"), Jordan Kerner (NBC's "Uprising") and Robert Lee (Fox's "Black River").

Written by Rogers, "Red Skies" is tapping into the hot genre of high-end inventive martial arts action of feature hits like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." It centers on a young Chinese female cop with solid martial arts training (Wu) who comes to Southern California on a hunt for a high-profile criminal from mainland China. After being arrested for entering the U.S. illegally, Wu is adopted by the FBI regional office in San Diego and becomes a member of its team.

Also cast in the pilot are Shawn Christian ("As the World Turns") as the head of the FBI office, Kadeem Hardison ("Renaissance Man") as his partner and best friend, and Rachael Crawford (Showtime's "Dirty Pictures") as the junior member of the FBI team.

Robert Lieberman (UPN's "The Dead Zone") will direct the pilot, which is set to begin production in Southern California Dec. 6.

"It's an FBI show with a martial arts spin," said Jeff Wachtel, USA Network executive vp series and longform programming. " 'Red Skies' is a perfect fit with USA Network's new programming model -- a mainstream franchise with a unique spin and with great execution."

In addition to "Red Skies," USA recently green-lighted "Monk," a two-hour backdoor pilot starring Tony Shalhoub as Monk, an obsessive-compulsive detective.

"The two (shows) are great examples of the direction that we want to go in now -- we think that they have great appeal to our core audience and also raise the bar of quality of our original programming," Wachtel said.

Joining Shalhoub on "Monk" are Ted Levine ("Evolution") as Monk's police counterpart and nemesis, Bitty Schram ("A League of Their Own") as his best friend and partner, and Gail O'Grady (ABC's "NYPD Blue").

In 1996, Woo and Chang produced "Once a Thief," a two-hour pilot for Fox. Wu's feature credits include the feature "Heaven & Earth" and HBO's "A Bright Shining Lie."

Vivian Wu is repped by Writers & Artists. Christian is repped by Metropolitan. Hardison is repped by UTA. Crawford is repped by Coast to Coast.

Schram is repped by Metropolitan, Levine is repped by Innovative Artists and O'Grady, who received Emmy nominations for her stints on "NYPD Blue" and NBC's "ER," is repped by Agency for the Performing Arts.

Halle Berry Is Set To Be The Next Bond Girl.

The 33-year-old actress, most recently seen in Swordfish, is said to be keen to star opposite Pierce Brosnan in the 20th James Bond adventure, but she has already agreed to reprise her role as Storm in the X- Men sequel and the two films could have clashing schedules.

Variety reports that X-Men looks likely to start filming early in 2002. However, because the exact shooting schedule has not been confirmed, Berry's agents have so far been unable to work out a scenario where she can appear in both films.

The new 007 movie, to be directed by Lee Tamahori, is primed to start filming at Pinewood on January 14. Scripted by Neil Purvis and Robert Wade (who wrote The World Is Not Enough), the latest Bond adventure will also feature John Cleese, Judi Dench and Michelle Yeoh, who appeared in Tomorrow Never Dies

Russell Crowe, Imagine tunneling into 'Hogan' feature

Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment have teamed with Revolution Studios to develop a dramatic big-screen version of the 1960s TV sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" (Available on Video) as a starring vehicle for Crowe.

 The project reunites Imagine with Crowe, who stars in the production company's upcoming Universal Pictures film "A Beautiful Mind," which Ron Howard directed and produced with Grazer.

"Hogan's" also marks the second pairing between Imagine and Revolution, which teamed on the upcoming Tom Green-Jason Lee feature "Promises, Promises, Promises" (aka "Stealing Stanford").

Revolution optioned feature film rights in May to "Hogan's" from the now-defunct Destination Films. Rights holders Jim Burke and Keith Samples also are producing with Revolution and Imagine.

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais wrote the most recent draft of the script, which portrays the characters of the TV series in a more dramatic setting. The 1965-71 CBS sitcom followed an American colonel and his multinational crew who sabotaged German war efforts while imprisoned in a Nazi POW camp. The Germans were portrayed as bumbling characters, and the camp was reminiscent of a fancy hotel complete with a steam room and chef. There is no director aboard the feature project.

Crowe, repped by WMA, is readying to star in Miramax Films' "Cinderella Man," which Lasse Hallstrom is directing. Last year, Crowe won a best actor Oscar for his role in "Gladiator." In 1999, he was nominated in the same category for "The Insider."

Roland Emmerich joins rookie scribe's 'Peace' corps

Roland Emmerich is attached to direct the World War I drama "Light of Peace," which his Centropolis Entertainment bought for low-six figures out of its discretionary fund during its deal with Sony Pictures.

The script is by newcomer Mirko Betz, who wrote it while in the UCLA screenwriting program. "Peace" follows the story of two soldiers on opposite sides of the war who form an unlikely friendship.

The project was brought to Emmerich -- who, like Betz, hails from Germany -- by Marc Roskin, who works for both Centropolis and Dean Devlin's Electric Entertainment. He will receive a producing credit. Emmerich called the script "a powerful character piece."

Centropolis became Emmerich's personal film production entity this year, following the expiration of Centropolis' deal with Sony and the departure of producer Devlin to form his own Electric Entertainment.

Sony will have first crack at the project after it is submitted to the studio. Betz is repped by attorney Christine Cuddy. Emmerich is repped by CAA.

Tripoli For Twentieth Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox has paid mid-six figures to pick up William Monahan's spec script "Tripoli" for Fox-based producer Mark Gordon to produce.

 Pic, described as a cross between "A Man For All Seasons" and "Lawrence of Arabia," is an epic historical drama set during the time of the Thomas Jefferson presidency.

It's the true story of how U.S. soldier and diplomat William Eaton joined forces with an exiled king to overthrow the corrupt ruler of Tripoli in what is now Libya.

Monahan penned his first novel "The Lighthouse," which was optioned by Warner Bros.-based producer Billy Gerber. The first-time author will adapt, with Gore Verbinski attached to direct.

From Kirkus Reviews: A nor’easter howls, and a loopy cast prowls the rickety corridors of a ramshackle B&B as a first novelist tries his hand at farce—with mixed results. Tim Picasso is something of a wunderkind, a brilliant young painter who also happens to be smarter, more honest (thanks to “an abnormal predisposition for integrity”), and far better looking than the norm. It follows, Monahan tell us, that the norm must find ways to punish someone so clearly superior. An opportunity presents itself when Tim applies for a post-graduate grant to teach painting in Italy.

The norm strikes, and he's rejected. He winds up delivering cocaine for Jesus Castro, stealing a million-and-a-half dollars from the drug lord, and eventually heading north for the Admiral Benbow Inn. This down-at-the heels B&B near a lighthouse on the Massachusetts coast is operated by a terrifically mismatched couple. George and Magdalene Hawthorne generate the kind of proactive sniping made fashionable in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Or, rather, Magdalene snipes; George is mostly just hapless.

At the time of Tim’s arrival there is only one other guest: Professor Menelaus G. Eggman, editor of The Best Short Stories in the History of the World, who plans to conduct a fiction workshop on the premises. But when the storm blows up, the would-be participants can't get there. A wacky bunch of others can, however, including a winsome dominatrix, a paranoid literary hack, and Mr. Castro, feeling bereft and murderous. Let the howling and prowling commence as doors slam, booze flows, satire rules, and a variety of not-very-elusive postmodern targets get demolished. Proof once again how very hard it is to be funny. Film rights to Warner Brothers -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The Jetsons A Live-Action Version Will Be Directed By Rob Minkoff

Paul Foley and Dan Forman have come onboard to pen a rewrite on "The Jetsons" for producer Denise Di Novi and Warner Bros. "Jetsons," a live-action version of the hit cartoon series, will be directed by Rob Minkoff ("Stuart Little").

Foley and Forman recently set up their spec "The Fraud Prince" with producer Adam Schroeder under his first-look deal at Warner Bros. The comedy is an irreverent riff on classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Frog Prince."

The USC grads' writing assignments include "Treasure of 12th St." for David Friendly, "Giant Robot" for Henson Pictures and "Park It Here" for Disney.

Singer Mya Locked Up For 'Chicago'

Singer Mya has joined Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, Christine Baranski and John C. Reilly in Miramax Films' musical feature "Chicago."

Mya, who has released two albums on Interscope Records since 1998, is currently in Toronto rehearsing with the rest of the cast for her supporting role in the Rob Marshall-directed film. Shooting is to start Dec. 12, with a scheduled Christmas 2002 bow.

In the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical, Mya will star as Mona, one of the cell block prisoners guilty of murder. The pop/R&B songstress will also be featured singing and dancing in a solo section during the "Cell Block Tango" sequence.

Bill Condon scripted the adaptation of the Broadway musical, and sources said his take is a completely new and stylized one in which all of the original parts have been rewritten. Marty Richards and Harvey Weinstein are producing along with executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.

Mya's "Chicago" outing won't be her first foray into the film business. She made her feature film debut in the Michael Rymer-directed "In Too Deep," a 1999 movie co-starring LL Cool J and Omar Epps that was also released by Miramax.

Earlier this year, she teamed with Christina Aguilera, Pink and Lil' Kim on the No. 1 single "Lady Marmalade" on the soundtrack to 20th Century Fox's "Moulin Rouge" and has also contributed to the film soundtracks of "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," "The Rugrats Movie" and "Bulworth."

More recently, Mya, who is repped by WMA and CD Enterprises, performed at the "Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration." Next year, she plans to follow up her sophomore CD, "Fear of Flying," with the release of her third CD for Interscope.

ThinkFilm buys The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys

Canadian-financed North American distributor ThinkFilm has picked up all North American rights to Peter Care's The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys which will receive its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next year.

The film is produced by Jodie Foster's Egg Pictures and stars Foster along with Kieran Culkin, Jena Malone, Emile Hirsch and Vincent D'Onofrio. Adapted from Chris Fuhrman's cult novel, Dangerous Lives chronicles the lives of two high schoolers who escape their hormonal confusion by creating a secret comic book. The film was fully financed by Graham King's Initial Entertainment Group (IEG).

The film joins two previously negotiated acquisitions from ThinkFilm: Bart Freundlich's World Traveler and Laurent Cantet's Time Out (L'Emploi Du Temps) which have both been selected for Sundance in the American Showcase and World Cinema sections respectively. World Traveler world premiered at the Deauville Film Festival last year, and Time Out premiered at the Venice Film Festival; both went on to play at Toronto.

The announcement was made by ThinkFilm president and CEO Jeff Sackman and head of US distribution Mark Urman. Urman expects to release the films as early as early spring 2002.

ThinkFilm vice president of acquisitions and business affairs Randy Manis negotiated all three deals with Sackman and Urman. ICM's Ken Kamins sold Dangerous Lives, John Sloss of Cinetic Media represented World Traveler and Pierre Meneham of Celluloid Dreams represented Time Out.

Studios, networks convene Hollywood war council

A newly formed committee of 40 Hollywood executives is planning ways for the movie and television industry to support the U.S. war against terrorism, but a spokesman said Tuesday the group would not turn into a tool of the White House.

The panel was organized by the Motion Picture Association of America and its president, Jack Valenti, who presided over the panel's first meeting in the form of a telephone conference call on Nov. 16, MPAA spokesman Richard Taylor said.

The committee grew out of a meeting on Nov. 11 in Beverly Hills between Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, and several dozen Hollywood chieftains seeking their help in boosting U.S. morale, enhancing America's image abroad and crafting the government's message about its war on terrorism.

"A group of over 40 folks in the creative community have convened and are working toward finding out how Hollywood can assist in the current effort underway in America," Taylor told Reuters. "We're still in the formative stage."

MPAA officials insisted the showbiz committee was now operating independently of the Bush administration. "This is an industry effort," Taylor said.

Valenti himself was quoted in the entertainment trade paper Daily Variety as saying, "There has been no coordination with the White House. The White House is not approving or disapproving anything."

Both Valenti and the White House have denied there is any effort by the studios or the government to manipulate the messages in movies and TV shows.

Tangible results of the patriotic fervor sweeping Hollywood already have surfaced in numerous trips celebrities are taking abroad to entertain Americans in uniform.

LIVE SHOWS, SCREENINGS FOR TROOPS

Movie stars George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and Andy Garcia will visit a U.S. military base in Turkey early next month for a special screening of their upcoming Warner Bros. movie, "Ocean's Eleven."

"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno plans to entertain troops overseas in December, and actor David Keith, who co-stars with Gene Hackman in the 20th Century Fox military drama "Behind Enemy Lines," hosted a screening of that film aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea over the Thanksgiving holiday.

"... You are our fists to smash their mouths, and our teeth that rip off their throats," Keith reported telling U.S. troops in an account related by Variety columnist Army Archerd. "People in America want you to bring hell, fire and damnation to those sorry SOBs who did that to us. When you come home and march, you should swagger."

The showbiz war panel includes executives from each of the seven major studios -- Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Walt Disney Co., Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.. Also represented are such independent studios as DreamWorks SKG, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and each of the television networks, Taylor said.

"Jack has said from the outset that content was off the table," Taylor said. Instead, early discussions have centered on such ideas as bringing more live entertainment and first-run movies to U.S. troops and the production of public service messages, he said.

Participants also have talked about creating documentaries for both domestic and foreign audiences on subjects ranging from understanding Islam to an explanation of American values such as democracy and free speech.

Valenti plans to convene additional conference calls of the Hollywood council every 10 days or so, with the next one planned for Dec. 3, Taylor said.

The MPAA chief will join a separate group of Hollywood lobbyists Dec. 6 for a meeting at the White House as a follow-up to the Beverly Hills summit in November with Rove. (Copyright By Steve Gorman)

Sundance Opening Slots Go To ' The Laramie Project'.

"The Laramie Project," an HBO film delving into the hate-crime murder of a gay man, Matthew Shepherd, in Wyoming, will open next year's Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City on Jan. 10. The film, directed and adapted from his own play by Moises Kaufman, features an all-star cast that includes Christina Ricci, Laura Linney, Jeremy Davies, Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo and Camryn Manheim.

"This is a big opening night for us," festival co-director Geoffrey Gilmore said. "This is a (Sundance) Lab project, where the playwright redid his play as a film. It's about a theater troupe that goes out to Laramie to investigate the characters and range of responses (to the murder). Ultimately, it's about diversity and tolerance."

John Malkovich's debut feature as a director, "Dancer Upstairs," starring Javier Bardem, is the Jan. 11 opening-night film for Park City, where the bulk of the Utah festival takes place through Jan. 20. The film, adapted by Nicholas Shakespeare from his own novel, concerns the pursuit by a policeman (Bardem) of a famous Maoist guerilla leader involved in a grassroots revolution in South America. The situation is based loosely on the Shining Path terrorist movement in Peru.

Other films in the festival's Premiere category will star such Hollywood stalwarts as Robin Williams, Nicole Kidman, Jodie Foster, Andie McDowell and Jennifer Aniston.

Fox Searchlight's "One Hour Photo," directed by Mark Romanek, has Williams playing a photo developer who becomes obsessed with a suburban family whose film he has developed through the years.

Kidman and McDowell are both scheduled to come to Park City to introduce their films. Miramax's "Birthday Girl" stars Kidman as a Russian mail-order bride. And Sony Pictures Classics' "Crush" features McDowell in a story about three women in their 40s who attempt to create satisfying lives.

Aniston stars in the dark comedy "The Good Girl," by Sundance discovery Miguel Arteta ("Star Maps"). She plays a married woman who gets involved with a younger, somewhat disturbed colleague (Jake Gyllenhaal).

One film in the festival's Premiere category was actually touted for last year's festival but wasn't finished on time. Peter Care's "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys," co-produced and starring Foster, centers on a group of Catholic high school friends who, after getting caught drawing an obscene comic book, plan a heist that will outdo all their previous stunts.

Mira Nair, represented on the festival circuit with her rambunctious "Monsoon Wedding," returns with a new film, "Hysterical Blindness." This Centerpiece Premiere centers on three women attempting to build relationships and find meaning in Bayonne, N.J., in 1987. The film stars Ben Gazzara, Juliette Lewis, Uma Thurman and Gena Rowlands.

Of interest to Hollywood denizens is "The Kid Stays in the Picture," in which Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein trace the erratic career of pretty-boy actor-turned-top-film-producer Robert Evans.

Another documentary is Nick Broomfield's "LA Story," which examines the hip-hop gangsta rap world and the unsolved murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.

Several of Sundance's favorite filmmakers appear in the 18 Premieres. Returning filmmakers include Victor Nunez ("Ulee's Gold," "Ruby in Paradise") with "Coastlines"; Peter Cattaneo ("The Full Monty") with "Lucky Break," starring Olivia Williams and Christopher Plummer; and Chris Eyre ("Smoke Signals") with "Skins," starring Graham Green and Eric Schweig.

The World Cinema section finds yet another film starring Ricci. (She's in three films in the festival.) In "Miranda," from the U.K.'s Channel Four Films, Ricci stars with John Hurt and Kyle MacLachlan in a convoluted story about a librarian and a hustler.

Other anticipated films include Ulrich Seidl's "Dog Days" from Austria, a prize winner at the Venice festival; Miramax's "Tears of a Black Tiger," a hit from Thailand at Cannes; and "Intacto," a Spanish film starring Max Von Sydow.

Gilmore said the festival will not be mailing out programs before the event. Instead, the festival will post its schedule online at www.sundance.org on Dec. 10.

One problem looming is the possibility that the rebuilding of the Holiday Cinema triplex might not be completed on time. Contingency plans call for moving those films scheduled at the Holiday to theaters in the Marriott and Yarrow hotels and the Black Box at the Eccles

Hollywood unions divided over runaway remedy

Something of a civil war is breaking out in Hollywood over a proposal to battle runaway production by forcing U.S. producers to give up Canadian government subsidies.

In other words, if a studio gets a $1 million subsidy to shoot in Canada, the studio would then be required to turn around and fork over that money to the U.S. government. The countervailing tariff would be a condition for clearing the picture for distribution in the United States.

The Motion Picture Assn. of America (MPAA), which represents the major studios, and the powerful Directors Guild of America (DGA) are among the heavyweights opposing the tariff plan, saying it will ignite a trade war instead of solve the problem of runaway production.

But the Film & Television Action Coalition (FTAC), which is backed by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the protectionist Made in the USA Foundation, plans next week to petition the Dept. of Commerce to investigate whether tariffs are an appropriate remedy against producers using Canadian subsidies. FTAC will hold a Tuesday morning news conference in Washington on the steps of the Commerce Dept.

"We've lost the right to compete for jobs ever since the Canadian government started to use Canadian taxpayers' money to subsidize American productions," said FTAC chairman Brent Swift.

Upping the stakes, the MPAA and other opponents are busy contacting Bush administration officials and Capitol Hill pols, arguing their case. The group also includes the American Film Marketing Assn. and Film US, a coalition of film commissions.

The Commerce Dept. has 25 days to accept or reject the petition calling for countervailing tariffs. If it's accepted, the Intl. Trade Commission would then launch an investigation into the claim and would have 190 days to reach a decision.

Joel Joseph, general counsel for Made in the USA, said the petitioners' legal position is simple: Industry-specific subsidies are illegal under the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade.

MPAA and DGA insiders warn of immediate retaliation if Washington endorses a countervailing tariff, with foreign countries viewing it as an intrusion. Canada and other governments could, for instance, impose a tax on box office tickets, or on American TV equipment.

"This is a dangerous issue and would restrict trade," one industryite said. "It inflames cultural sensitivities."

But Joseph asserts that Canada started the trade war in the mid-1990s by luring producers with subsidies. "The Canadians fired the first shot," he added. "The United States has lost 25,000 jobs because of their illegal practices."

FTAC has also set a Sunday rally at the Hollywood Bowl, with SAG elected officials Elliott Gould and Kent McCord, cinematographer Haskell Wexler and former state legislator Scott Wildman slated to speak.

SAG's support of the petition has strained relationships with other Hollywood unions, most of which have lined up behind federal legislation for wage-based tax credits for films with budgets of less than $10 million, rather than a tariff.

Mediability First Casualty Among The Recent Wave Of German Private Media Funds

Launched just five months ago, Mediability has become the first casualty among the recent wave of German private media funds; unable to raise sufficient cash from investors for its three proposed animation series: Frog, Thorgal, and Baron Muenchhausen, the Munich-based equity fund has now filed for insolvency.

Ellipse Deutschland, the German arm of French animation studio Ellipse-anime which was to have co-produced the series with Mediability, now plans to realize the productions with its French sister company and other international partners.

Commenting on the collapse of Mediability, Ellipse Deutschland’s managing director Stephan Schesch said he "regretted very much that the co-productions with Mediability are not coming about. It seems that on the part of the private investors the general uncertainty in light of the present economic and political situation is great".

Meanwhile, another Ellipse Deutschland project –the live-action/animation feature The Canterville Ghost – is to be one of the projects backed by the Studio Hamburg Worldwide Pictures (WWP) fund launched at the end of October.

Paramount Taps Latest German Fund

Having already accessed German private film funds initiated this year by Alcas and Bayerische Immobilien-Leasing (BIL)/Deutsche Bank, Paramount Pictures is set to benefit from a new German private equity fund launched by SachsenFonds and EastMerchant.

The Euros 52.7m MMP Investitions GmbH & Co. 2001 KG will be inviting private individuals to invest a minimum of Euros 15,000 each by December 20, 2001 to finance the romantic comedy How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, which is budgeted at $40m and is slated to star hot Oscar-nominated actress Kate Hudson (Almost Famous).

According to the fund prospectus, contracts have already been signed for the Amsterdam-based Viacom International subsidiaries Futa B.V. and Global Film Distributors B.V. to serve as production services company and world sales agent respectively, while Viacom’s Worldwide Productions Inc. will furnish a completion bond for the production.

Moreover, the fund is being advised on project selection and contractual issues by veteran producer Willi Baer and media lawyer Winfried Hammacher through their Essen-based company W2 Filmproduktion Und Vertriebs GmbH

Baer’s recent (executive) producer credits include Robert Altman’s Cookie’s Fortune (1999), Mike Figgis’ Miss Julie (1999), Rod Lurie’s The Contender (2000), Forever Lulu (2000) and Prozac Nation (2001), the last three with German media fund Cinerenta.