No one seems to be able to get a movie based on a Jonathan Lethem novel off the ground. The latest attempt may come from David Cronenberg, however, and he’s got a pretty damn good track record when it comes to getting difficult material from the page to screen. (Think Dead Ringers, Crash, and Naked Lunch.) Cronenberg is reportedly attached to direct an adaptation of Lethem’s third novel, 1997′s As She Climbed Across the Table. But he’s got a few other titles on his plate, too, so will this actually get made? Read More »
In the past couple weeks, the most widely-reported word on David Fincher‘s remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was that Brad Pitt was waiting on Steve Zaillian‘s first script draft, which was turned in on June 1. The belief was that Pitt was going to make a decision about starring in the film after reading the script.
But now Daniel Craig is in early talks to star as journalist Mikael Blomkvist in this film and two more, the latter possibly shot back to back, adapting the full span of Stieg Larsson‘s Millennium series.
Read More »
How many runs through a script can a studio take? Moneyball is supposed to shoot in a little over a month, after a year of wrangling and being on life support. Now Steve Zaillian, who wrote the draft that got the scrapped Steven Soderbergh version moving in the first place, is back on the picture. For the time being. Read More »
It doesn’t look like he’s getting to it any time soon, but after Martin Scorsese finishes The Invention of Hugo Cabret and the planned follow-up Silence (his ‘Jesuit priest drama’) there has been talk of finally making The Irishman, which would reunite the director with Robert De Niro.
The Irishman is based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses, which is about Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, a mob assassin who is believed to have carried out more than 25 mob murders, and claimed to have killed Jimmy Hoffa. Over a year ago De Niro said that he and Scorsese had the idea of incorporating a ‘film within a film’ angle to this project. Now a comment by Robert De Niro suggests that the project will have a very Fellini-esque twist, should it come to fruition as currently conceived. Read More »
Another international phenomenon is about to get a US remake, probably before you’ve even had a chance to catch the original. Doesn’t mean the Stateside do-over isn’t sounding tasty, though…
The biggest crowd pleaser at this year’s Frightfest was the English speaking world’s premiere of a smart, pointed thriller in the Silence of the Lambs vein, though with added politics. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is an adaptation of the first book in Stieg Larsson‘s worldwide smash novel trilogy Millennium, known as Män som hatar kvinnor in its native Sweden – a title that would translate literally as Men Who Hate Women. It’s a rather apt title.
The deal for US adaptations of the book series is closing now, with Sony reported to be tying up the last loose ends of some rather complex negotiations. Things have apparently been slower than with normal rights negotiations, largely due to the sudden death of Larsson shortly before the publication of the first novel, and the ensuing entanglements when it became clear that he had neither married his common law wife or left a will; and partly due to the existence of the Swedish film versions.
Linked to the project are screenwriter Steve Zaillian and producer Scott Rudin. That’s a real power player duo and they give the project a genuine whiff of Oscar even before a single word has been scripted.
Read More »
A month ago at the Telluride Film Festival, the UK crime trilogy Red Riding played to good critical reception. The reception didn’t escape the notice of studio execs, and Columbia has picked up the rights to remake the trilogy. The studio is negotiating a deal to have Steve Zaillian script the remake for Ridley Scott to direct. Add one more to Ridley’s towering ‘in development’ pile! Read More »
Martin Scorsese has added yet another movie project to his ever growing plate. The latest is an adaptation of Charles Brandt‘s 2005 novel I heard You Paint Houses. Schindler’s List scribe Steve Zaillian has been hired to pen the adaptation and Robert De Niro is signed on to play Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran, a mob assassin who is believed to have carried out more than 25 mob murders, and claimed to have killed Jimmy Hoffa. Bandt befriended Sheeran shortly before his death in 2003. The film’s title refers to the clever mob slang for contract killings. As you can imagine, when someone is murdered, the blood splatters on walls and floors aka Painting the house. Sounds like a potential return to his gangster roots for the Goodfellas/Casino director.
Zallian’s writing credits also include Gangs of New York, American Gangster, Cape Fear, Hannibal, A Civil Action, Mission: Impossible, Clear and Present Danger, and Searching for Boby Fischer.
You can buy the book on Amazon.com for $10.85.
Official Book Description: HEARD YOU PAINT HOUSES is a fascinating account of a dark side of American history. The book’s title comes from the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran. To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. Frank Sheeran lived a long, violent, passionate life. As a boy he took on older kids in bar fights so his dad could win free beer. During World War II he was a highly decorated infantryman with 411 days of active combat duty and a willingness to follow orders. “When an officer would tell you to take a couple of German prisoners back behind the line and for you to ‘hurry back,’ you did what you had to do.” He became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino and eventually becoming one of only two non-Italians on the FBI’s famous La Cosa Nostra list. He was also a truck driver who was made head of the Teamsters local in Wilmington, Delaware, by his good friend Jimmy Hoffa. When Hoffa disappeared on July 30, 1975, Sheeran became a leading suspect, and every serious study of the Hoffa disappearance alleges that Sheeran was there.
For the first time the Irishman tells all — a lifetime of payoffs (including hand-delivering bags of cash to Nixon’s attorney general John Mitchell) and manipulation (supporting Joe Biden’s election to the Senate with a Teamster action) — for the book that would become his deathbed confession. He died on December 14, 2003. Sheeran also provides shocking new information on notorious mob hits: Joseph “Crazy Joey” Gallo — blown away as he celebrated his forty-third birthday in New York’s Little Italy; Salvatore “Sally Bugs” Briguglio — long suspected of being a player in the plot to kill Hoffa. And offers new insights to the crusading of Robert Kennedy and the death of John F. Kennedy. This historic account is based on interviews of Frank Sheeran by Charles Brandt, who researched, cross-checked, and illuminated what Sheeran told him and turned it all into a gripping narrative that is sure to become an instant true crime classic. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Sometimes I wonder if he will even complete a tenth of the announced projects. I’m not sure when or if Scorsese will ever be able to fit this into his schedule. Up next the director will choose between the three top projects on his list: Silence, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Long Play.
“Sheeran’s confession that he killed Hoffa in the manner described in the book is supported by the forensic evidence, is entirely credible, and solves the Hoffa mystery.” – Michael Baden, M.D., former Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York
“Told with such economy and chilling force as to make The Sopranos suddenly seem overwrought and theatrical.” – New York Daily News
“A page-turning account of one man’s descent into the mob.” – Delaware News Journal
source: Variety
