Three join 'Chess'
Alessandro Nivola, David Oyelowo and Jon Abrahams will sail the musical waters together in the feature biopic Chess. Jerry Zaks is directing.
The story chronicles the life of Leonard Chess (Nivola), a self-made music impresario and renowned record company executive who brought blues into the public eye and jump-started the careers of some of the music industry's biggest names, including Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry.
Oyelowo will play Waters, while Abrahams will play Phil Chess, Leonard's younger brother who worries when Leonard becomes involved with a singer who has been signed to their label.
The film will compete against Sony BMG Film's Cadillac Records, which also centers on the rise and fall of Chess' blues label Chess Records. That film stars Adrien Body and Jeffrey Wright and is set to begin production in March.
The script for Chess was penned by Peter Wortmann and Bob Conte and is being produced by Jonathan Mitchell, Les Alexander and Andrea Baynes through Checkmate Prods.
The story chronicles the life of Leonard Chess (Nivola), a self-made music impresario and renowned record company executive who brought blues into the public eye and jump-started the careers of some of the music industry's biggest names, including Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry.
Oyelowo will play Waters, while Abrahams will play Phil Chess, Leonard's younger brother who worries when Leonard becomes involved with a singer who has been signed to their label.
The film will compete against Sony BMG Film's Cadillac Records, which also centers on the rise and fall of Chess' blues label Chess Records. That film stars Adrien Body and Jeffrey Wright and is set to begin production in March.
The script for Chess was penned by Peter Wortmann and Bob Conte and is being produced by Jonathan Mitchell, Les Alexander and Andrea Baynes through Checkmate Prods.
- 2/12/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Regency nails 'Hammer' rights
In a pre-emptive bid, Regency Enterprises is in negotiations to pick up feature film rights to the graphic novel Hammer of the Gods, with veteran writing duo Peter Wortmann and Bob Conte attached to script in a deal worth mid- against high-six figures. David Engel and David Alpert at Circle of Confusion will produce the project, which Regency hopes to bring to the big screen as a summer tentpole, sources said. It's described as a fantasy project similar to The Lord of the Rings but adding in Norse mythology with a contemporary twist. It follows a 21-year-old man who one day learns that he is fated to save another world -- the Norse world. If he fails, that world will fail, and evil will bleed into the present day.
- 4/22/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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