• Hyde Park Entertainment has picked the pitch LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY (aka PRINCE CHARMING) from David Titcher and Diane Saltzberg. Director Charles Shyer attached to direct and produce the project about Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty all finding themselves married to the same Prince Charming.
• Todd Slawsby's action script FULL THROTTLE was purchased by New Line for Zide/Perry Entertainment to possibly produce. It's about a young motorcyclist who has 20 minutes to get from the Beverly Center shopping mall to the Santa Monica Pier on his motorcycle in order to rescue his girlfriend, who is taken hostage. Meanwhile, he's being chased by cops in a case of mistaken identity.
• Ray Wright has written the screenplay YEAGER, based on the life of Chuck Yeager, to be produced as a feature film by The Zanuck Co. and Phoenix Pictures for 20th Century Fox. The script is based on the 1985 memoir YEAGER: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Yeager and Leo Janos and will focus on the test pilot's life from his upbringing in West Virginia to the first successful flight to break the sound barrier.
• Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (MAN ON THE MOON, THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT) will adapt Michael Paterniti's nonfiction book DRIVING MR. ALBERT: A TRIP ACROSS AMERICA WITH EINSTEIN'S BRAIN for producer Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures. It's about the true story of a cross-country road trip taken by Paterniti and pathologist Thomas Harvey, who performed Einstein's autopsy in 1955. Harvey kept Einstein's brain as a souvenir, storing it in a Tupperware bowl filled with formaldehyde.
• Ralph Sall will write the script for a feature comedy to star legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk. Revolution Studios will prdouce. The plot is being kept under wraps but the pic will focus on a road trip and will feature Hawk's skateboarding abilities to attract an extreme sports audience.
• Icon Prods. is in talks to pick up the action pic SKELETON'S COAST, about a diamond heist in Africa, in turnaround from Sony. John Frankenheimer is attached to direct from the script written by Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring.
• Sophie Marceau will write and direct PARLEZ MOI D'AMOUR (SPEAK TO ME OF LOVE), starring Judith Godreche and Jacques Dutronc.
• Miracle Pictures grabbed the comedy pitch RAZHEL WATKINS: HIP HOP DETECTIVE from writers Freddie Gutierrez, Wesley Jermaine Johnson and Scott Taylor. It's about a gadget-carrying, hip-hop detective who tries to solve the murder of a notorious white rap star.
• Jonathan Hensleigh (ARMAGEDDON writer) will direct BOUNTY KILLER from his own script for Valhalla Motion Pictures and Emmett/Furla Films. The low-budget project centers on a violent bounty hunter who comes to a rural town to collect a reward and is recruited to save the community. In the process, the bounty hunter discovers truths about his past. Shooting begins Oct. 22 in Vancouver. Hensleigh has also been chosen to rework Disney's GEMINI MAN.
• Flody Co., executive producer Andy Cohen and writer Jeff Arch (SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE) have optioned Debra Kent's THE DIARY OF V, an online serial that appeared on Redbook magazine's Web site. Arch will pen the script about a woman in American suburbia who is trying to have a career while trying to keep her family together.
• Warner Bros. has purchased the comedic script NANNEEZ by Shaina Carol about the wacky exploits of four twentysomething Hollywood nannies who work for the rich and famous.
• Ron Bass will adapt the Cynthia Voigt romantic comedy novel LOVERS LEAP for Regency Enterprises. It's about a butler who falls for an enchanting woman, who also happens to be the object of his wealthy boss's affections. The servant then tries to sabotage his employer's relationship while trying to get the girl for himself.
• Charles Randolph (upcoming THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE) will write the international political drama THE INTERPRETER for Kevin Misher and Working Title.
• Matthew Ryan Hoge will direct the drama pic UNITED STATES OF LELAND for Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street Prods. Hoge also penned the script about a 15-year-old boy who murders an autistic child and claims that he committed the act out of sadness. He is sent to a juvenile facility, where a male teacher named Pearl must figure out the mystery behind Leland's murderous act and sadness while at the same time deal with how it affects the families of both the victim and the killer.
• Steve Boyum (MEET THE DEEDLES) is in talks to direct BACK OF THE NET for Crusader Entertainment. Production begins in January. It's about about two brothers separated at an early age who reunite under the arena of national soccer.
• Liv Ullmann is developing a biopic on Norwegian violinist-composer Ole Bull, who died in 1880. The pic is expected to begin shooting in 2003.
• Christina Ricci will make her directorial debut on the indie dark comedy SPEED QUEEN, written by Brian Price, about a fast-food clerk who goes on a lethal road trip with a man and woman and then tells her story to an author while on death row.
• Matt Johnson sold his action script TORQUE to Warner Bros. for Original Films to produce. The plot is being kept under wraps.
• Peter Segal and Fred Wolf (TOMMY BOY) will write the romantic comedy VENUS DOWN for Paramount as a directing vehicle for Segal (NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS). The story follows an arrogant goddess of love who takes a challenge laid down by her father, who is convinced that she cannot win the love of a mortal without her powers within one month.
• Phil Beauman's action buddy comedy script DA UNKNOWN SOLDIER (aka AWOL) was purchased by New Line Cinema for Ice Cube to possibly star in and produce. The screenplay is about two cousins -- one in the Army, the other still living in the 'hood. The two switch places for a couple of hours so the soldier can visit his family. However, when he returns, he finds out that war has been declared and his cuz is headed for the battlefield.
• Universal Pictures has picked up the dramatic thriller pitch HANDS OF TIME from writer Joanna Johnson about a man who goes back in time to look for the person responsible for killing his wife.
• Ed Spielman will script the Warner Bros. pic AMERICAN SAMURAI, a feature adaptation of his long-running television creation "Kung-Fu" for Warner Bros. Spielman will also serve as executive producer while Adam Schroeder Prods. will develop and produce the film.
• David Goyer will write BLADE 3, as part of two-picture deal with New Line Cinema, as well as an original script that he'll also direct for his Ghostlight banner. Goyer is also adapting and expected to direct MURDER MYSTERIES, based on the Neil Gaiman short story, for Miramax Films -- where he also has an option to write/direct a pic based on the Marvel Comic series DR. STRANGE. On top of all that, Goyer has also scripted GHOST RIDER for Dimension/Crystal Sky. That pic was supposed to begin production soon, but director Steve Norrington chose to helm TICK-TOCK instead. Goyer claims a new director is being sought with hopes that Nicolas Cage is still attached to star.
• Donald Martin (upcoming THE DAY I WENT MISSING for Wes Craven) and Anna Chi (KILLING ME SOFTLY assoc. prod.) will write the period epic WOMEN WARRIORS OF THE YANG FAMILY for Miramax Films and producer Janet Yang. The project is inspired by the 9th-century A.D. legend, centering on the Yang family women and their conflicts between love and duty as they try to recover the body of a son lost in battle, while also defending their nation from invasion.
• Antoine Fuqua (BAIT, upcoming TRAINING DAY) will direct Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci in the Revolution Studios pic MAN OF WAR about a special military unit leader sent to an African jungle on a rescue mission. Shooting begins in February.
• Steven Spielberg is in final talks to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in the true crime pic CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, based on the autobiography of Frank Abagnale Jr., for DreamWorks. Abagnale Jr. had kited $6 million worth of bad checks in all 50 states and in 26 foreign countries before he turned 18. Production may begin in January. No word on whether or not actor James Gandolfini is still attached.
• Renny Harlin is in talks to direct the action/thriller MINDHUNTERS for Intermedia Films. The story centers on new recruits of the FBI's psychological profiling division training on a remote island to track serial killers. The trainees go through a trial by fire when they discover a killer is among them. Wayne Kramer penned the original script with subsequen rewrites by Kevin Brodbin, Kario Salem, Cary Bickley and Yuri Zeltzer. Production begins in November
• Will Smith and James Lassiter's Overbrook Entertainment are joining forces with Absolute Entertainment to develop a remake of the 1980 comedy flick NINE TO FIVE for Fox Searchlight Pictures. Rob Edwards is writing the script, which will feature three black women at a workplace, with Jada Pinkett Smith possibly taking a role.
• Writer/director Michael Hoffman (RESTORATION) will direct the comedy DOMESTIC PARTNERS for Imagemovers and DreamWorks Pictures. Production is expected to begin early 2002. The story focuses on a marketing executive who claims that his straight roommate is his gay partner in order to scam health benefits from the company where he works. When his gay boss takes him under his wing, the roommates try to keep the truth hidden. Paul Cohen wrote the script with a rewrite by Don Roos (BOUNCE).
• Ice Cube and John Witherspoon will write FROM THE OLD SCHOOL for New Line Cinema as a starring vehicle for Witherspoon. It's about four elderly black men who try to keep a local thug's from replacing their longtime corner store with a strip club. Ice Cube will also produce the project with Matt Alvarez.
• Philip Kaufman will direct and playwright John Guare will script a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1941 pic SUSPICION for Dimension Films and RKO Pictures. The new script will take place in San Francisco. Kaufman is also set to direct PRISON FISH and hopes to get started on SUSPICION within a year.
• Absolute Entertainment picked up the pitch COUSINS from scribe Luce Gordon and hip-hop emcee Nas Escobar. It's about a young inner-city man who inherits an enormous ancestral home in the Deep South, only to find out it's haunted by scheming ghosts.
• Barry Sonnenfeld is near a deal to produce and direct MOIST, based on the upcoming novel by Mark Haskell Smith, for DreamWorks Pictures. The story centers on a morgue attendant whose grisly task of delivering a severed limb to the Los Angeles County Coroner takes a crazy turn when the head of L.A.'s Mexican Mafia, to whom it belongs, comes looking for it.
• Icon Prods. grabbed the script DON WAYNE WYOMING with Will Ferrell attached to star. Jerry Collins and Boyd Hale wrote the screenplay about two guys who follow their dream of driving an 18-wheel truck.
• Simon Kinberg will write AIR SHOW for Wonderland/Columbia Pictures about the world's largest air show being attacked by terrorists, and it's up to a Navy pilot and female rookie Blue Angel to resolve the crisis.
• David Fincher is attached to direct Nicolas Cage in an adaptation of the 1992 comic book HARD BOILED by Frank Miller and Geoff Darrow for Warner Bros. Pictures. The studio is currently in talks to pick up the rights to the sci-fi comic about a killer robot that believes he's a tax collector. The book was published by Dark Horse Comics.
• Rod Lurie (THE CONTENDER, THE LAST CASTLE) will direct KNOWING for Columbia Pictures. Ryne Pearson wrote the story about a time capsule buried behind a grade school is discovered early due to a water-main break, revealing the chilling predictions of a child clairvoyant from forty years earlier. The chairman of the town's historical society finds out that one child accurately foretold some of the greatest tragedies in recent history and sets out to prevent a terrible event that has yet to happen.
• Pete Sollett (FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING short) is shooting a feature in New York, starring Victor Rasuk and Judy Marte, about a self-styled Romeo bent on seducing a woman who appears to be well beyond his reach.
• Art director/production designer Perry Andelin Blake will direct Revolution Studio's MASTER OF DISGUISE, co-written and starring Dana Carvey, about the last remaining survivor of a family of masters of disguise. Shooting begins Sept. 24.
• Disney acquired the comedy pitch WHITEBREAD from writer/director Peter M. Cohen (WHIPPED). John Herzfeld will produce. The pic is a fish-out-of-water comedy set in black fraternities.
• Producer Joel Silver has nabbed the action/thriller spec TRACE EVIDENCE by Jeanne Lusignan about a down-and-out female cop who becomes obsessed with determining the identity of a man who was tortured and left for dead. Ultimately, she becomes embroiled in a struggle against a corrupt Drug Enforcement Agency.
• Universal Pictures has grabbed an untitled adventure pitch from Owen A. Gottlieb and Stephen Susco, based on the real-life exploits of a CIA candidate/international investigative firms employee who, since she was 12, has devoted her life to becoming a superhero. Gottlieb and Susco learned of this woman in a profile on National Public Radio that they have optioned.
• Miramax Films has purchased MY BABY'S MAMA, a comedy written by Eddie Griffin and Damon "Coke" Daniels, as a starring vehicle for Griffin, John Leguizamo, LL Cool J and Lil' Kim. The comedy focuses on African-American fathers who must come to terms with taking responsibility for their children.
• Jeff Davis sold his thriller INDELIBLE to Palomar Pictures for music video helmer Howard Greenhalgh to direct. It's about a couple's attempt to apprehend the man who killed their only child.
• Rob Moreland will write the bigscreen adaptation of the German TV series "SimsalaGrimm," a parody of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, for producer John Williams and Greenlight Media.
• Martin Campbell (THE MASK OF ZORRO) is now set to direct Angelina Jolie in BEYOND BORDERS for Mandalay Pictures. The story centers on a decade-long romance between an international relief worker and a socialite. The movie looks to be finally getting off the ground for a Dec. 15 production start date.
• Damien O'Donnell (EAST IS EAST) will direct HEARTLANDS for Miramax about a lovesick man who tries to steal back his wife from another guy. Michael Sheen (upcoming FOUR FEATHERS) will star. Shooting begins next month.
• Nigel Cole (SAVING GRACE) will direct ROMANTIC COMEDY for MGM and Bob Cooper's Landscape Entertainment. The pic is a spoof on romantic comedies and centers on a guy who schemes to win the love of a woman by borrowing from the plots of various films in the genre. Lance Khazei wrote the script with a rewrite by Jeff Lowell.
• Taylor Hackford is developing and will direct the biopic UNCHAIN MY HEART: THE RAY CHARLES STORY for Crusader Entertainment. Jimmy White has written the script.
• Writer Gina Wendkos is working on a script for a sequel to Disney's THE PRINCESS DIARIES.
• Rob Schmidt (CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN SUBURBIA) is in final talks to direct the horror/thriller WRONG TURN for Newmarket Capital Group, Summit Entertainment and Stan Winston Prods. Alan McElroy (SPAWN) wrote the script about six people trapped in the middle of a West Virginia wilderness who are hunted by cannibalistic mountain men grossly disfigured through generations of in-breeding. Cameraman Matthew Libatique (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) is shooting the pic.
• Universal Pictures has acquired an untitled adventure comedy pitch from writer Dan Schneider (upcoming PAY OR PLAY aka BIG FAT LIAR) for Tollin/Robbins Prods. to produce. The pitch tells the story of a group of disenfranchised kids who save the world from an alien invasion.
• Writer-director Gavin O'Connor (TUMBLEWEEDS) is attached to direct PRIDE AND GLORY for Intermedia Films about the professional and personal lives of members of the NYPD.
• Panoptic Pictures has grabbed the Nicholl Fellowship-winning script AKEELAH AND THE BEE, written by Doug Atchison, about an 11-year-old girl from South Central Los Angeles who overcomes the pressures of her environment to compete in the National Spelling Bee.
• Chris Kattan and "Saturday Night Live" writer Scott Wainio are working on an untitled comedy for Paramount about a guy whose wife is driving him nuts. When he finds out she's doing this on purpose, he pretends to be mentally insane as a way of beating her at her own game. The pic is being developed as a starring vehicle for Kattan.
• Sean Hood (HALLOWEEN: HOMECOMING) is currently writing CURSED for Dimension and producer Kevin Williamson as well as CUBE 2: HYPERCUBE for director Andrzej Sekula about eight strangers who wake up in a cube-shaped room not knowing how they got there or how to get out. They must unlock the secrets of the hypercube which takes place in the fourth dimension where our laws of physics don't apply.
• Agatha Dominik and Robin Lister have written THE DEATH OF CONRAD-SHEPPERD, picked up by DreamWorks from Paramount, about betrayal and revenge set in part against the Cold War.

• Disney Co. has acquired the rights to BIG DADDY DANGER, the upcoming DC comic book created and written by Adam Pollina. The story centers on a father who's a wrestler by day and secret agent by night.
• Harold Ramis has exited the director's chair of the action comedy RULE NUMBER THREE due to either creative differences (according to Ramis' camp) or scheduling conflicts (according to Fox). The pic is about a cocky firearms dealer who bullies someone he thinks is a regular guy, but is really an assassin.
• Disney has picked up the rights to MY GUY, Sarah Weeks' children's novel, about two rival classmates who try to sabotage their parents' engagement, for Storyline Entertainment to produce.
• Quentin Tarantino has finished his KILL BILL script and will wait until January to begin preproduction when Uma Thurman has her baby, as opposed to recasting her part. Production on that film begins next May or June. In the meantime, he will finish his script GLORIOUS BASTARDS, a World War II "guys on a mission" movie.
• Playboy Enterprises Inc. and Threshold Entertainment (MORTAL KOMBAT) are joining forces to make mainstream feature films that will take the Playboy brand into a new arena. First up are two broad comedies entitled A NIGHT AT THE PLAYBOY MANSION and PLAYMATE OF THE YEAR. The former follows two guys trying to sneak into a party at the famed mansion.

Ken Miyamoto