BeatTheReaper Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Book to Film News - 'Reaper' Writers and 'History on Trial'
Filed under: Drama », Deals », Scripts »
Remember that upcoming project that's got Leonardo DiCaprio trying to Beat the Reaper? Where he plays an ex-hitman-turned-ER doctor who gets recognized by a mobster? Well, New Regency did nab the rights, and Variety reports that Brian Koppelman and David Levien have signed on to adapt the novel. These are the guys who wrote Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience, and also worked with the director on Ocean's Thirteen. Does that mean the director might follow the pens to the project? Time will tell!Meanwhile, the partners behind The Soloist are getting ready to prove that the Holocaust existed. Variety reports that Participant Media and Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment are gearing up for History on Trial. The book, written by Deborah Lipstadt, a prof of Jewish Studies at Emory, follows her experience trying to prove that the Holocaust existed.
Basically, she named David Irving (author of WWII books) as a Holocaust denier in a book about the denial movement, and he sued her. Under British law, the burden of proof landed at her feet and the trial became a he-said, she-said about whether the Holocaust happened, including claims from him that Anne Frank's diary was a romantic novel and "more people died in Ted Kennedy's car at Chappaquidick than in the gas chambers at Auschwitz." Max Borenstein will pen the adaptation, and as of now, no director is attached. It's way too early to cast, but I'm going to throw out a name anyway -- Emma Thompson as Lipstadt.
Leonard DiCaprio Looks to 'Beat the Reaper'
Filed under: Drama », Casting »
Le sigh. The idea of Leonard DiCaprio beating the Reaper inspires notions of Leo facing the evil and irresistible grin of Ray Wise. (He's fun and all in Reaper, but it would be so much cooler to see Wise take the devilish role to darker, eerier places.) Unfortunately, that's not this kind of reaper. In fact, it's not a devil-led reaper at all.Variety reports that New Regency is working on getting the rights to Josh Bazell's upcoming novel Beat the Reaper, for Leonardo DiCaprio to star in. Unlike the reaper-riffic television show, the book follows an emergency room doctor in New York City whose life is going smooth and easy until he runs into a mobster. However, this isn't a case of the crimelord corrupting the doc and making his life miserable -- rather, the mobster recognizes the doctor as a former hitman. See, the man went into the witness protection program, cleaned up his act, and became a body fixer, rather than a body-breaker.
Well, while I wish we could get big-screen Wise, this definitely sounds like a fun twist on the whole "running into a mobster" scenario. Thoughts?
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
