Brothers Chris and Paul Weitz are the hottest up-and-coming young directors in Hollywood and could be this millennium’s Coen brothers.
On the heels of their success with “American Pie,” which grossed $102 million domestically, and newly inked plans for “American Pie 2,” they have also completed “Down to Earth,” a remake of “Heaven Can Wait.” The film, which stars Chris Rock, Regina King, Eugene Levy and Mark Addy (“The Full Monty”) is being produced by Paramount Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures in conjunction with NPV Entertainment, Alphaville and 3 Arts Entertainment. It was released Feb. 16.
When asked how long the picture took and what the budget was, both Weitzes’ jokingly replied, “500 days and $700 million.” The film was actually shot in 48 days on a mid-range budget of about $30 million and as of this writing was expected to perform well with the 15-to-28-year-old set on its opening weekend.
Reel Source Inc. is projecting $36 million in domestic box office, which should account for about 25 percent of its total gross.
The original “Heaven Can Wait” was released in 1978 and starred Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. It was a huge hit, grossing $100 million domestically. As for “American Pie 2,” the entire original cast which included Jason Biggs, Chris Klein and Mena Suvari has been re-signed, and for lots more money.
“Actors always have the producers over a barrel in a sequel,” said Harlan Kopletz, a Hollywood talent agent.
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Annabelle Begelman, widow of producer David Begelman, is not happy about plans for a movie based on the book “Indecent Exposure.” It isn’t just because they are doing the story about her husband often described as a Hollywood swindler but the fact that the co-producers Ed Pressman, Ken Lipper and Elliott Kastner haven’t called out of courtesy or asked for her participation in the project. Vying for the role of Begelman are Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Irons, Dustin Hoffman and Michael Caine.
Having star power doesn’t always guarantee that you’ll get what you want. Just ask Michael Douglas, who was booted off the short list of actors for the remake of “Night of the Iguana.” A tremendous buzz led by Douglas’ dad Kirk had re-ignited the cooled-down project and led to an emergency pow wow of the producers Ray Stark (head of Rastar Productions at Columbia) and Kipur Lascu. A publicist close to the project said the upshot of the meeting was that Douglas wanted too much power over the project and that his history with Stark hadn’t been a happy one. While Douglas may be out, there’s still a chance there will be a role for his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Contributing reporter Anita Talbert can be reached via email at [email protected].
