Backlot Buzz—Hanks Wants ‘That Thing’ on Broadway

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Maybe it’s the fear of an actors’ strike. Maybe it’s the success Matthew Broderick has found on Broadway in “The Producers.” Whatever the reason, movie stars are suddenly turning to the theater again though not always to tread the boards.

Foremost among them is Tom Hanks. The double Oscar winner thinking about developing a musical version of “That Thing You Do!” the film he wrote and directed, which featured an Oscar-nominated song by Adam Schlesinger.

“Thing,” still in the early stages of development, told the story of the rapid rise and equally rapid fall of the Wonders, a fictitious band. It is being produced by Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone production company.

But Hanks, whose next movie will be the period piece “The Road to Perdition,” is unlikely to direct the play. He is currently looking for a veteran stage director to helm the project.

Hanks isn’t the only actor who’s stepping up his producing chores. Antonio Banderas is teaming with director Gregory Nava (“El Norte”) to produce “Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw,” about the search for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Darlene Caamano and Diane Sillan will also produce.

Banderas will star in the Miracle Entertainment picture though he won’t play Escobar: He’ll take the role of the police chief who tracks him down with the help of a crack U.S. special forces team.

“Pablo” will be scripted by Mark Bowden, whose upcoming book about Escobar is due out later this year. Bowden previously wrote “Black Hawk Down,” the story of the U.S. military involvement in Somalia that Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer have been filming in Morocco.

Speaking of Ridley Scott, his “Hannibal” producer Dino De Laurentiis is turning to a very different kind of subject for his next movie: Alexander the Great.

The legendary producer who recently received an honorary Oscar for his life’s work has bought the rights to author Valerio Manfredi’s trilogy of books about the Greek conqueror. The first volume, “Alexander, Child of a Dream,” will be published in English this fall.

Alexander has long been a favorite target of Hollywood filmmakers, though directors from Oliver Stone to Terry Gilliam have failed in their efforts to bring him to the screen. De Laurentiis is now attempting to turn a story that covers 10 years of war and features dozens of main characters into a coherent script.

Longtime partners Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin (“Independence Day,” “Godzilla”) are going their separate ways.

Devlin has left Centropolis Entertainment, the company he formed with Emmerich, which was housed at Sony Pictures until its deal elapsed earlier this year. Devlin will now run a new venture, Electric Entertainment.

As for Emmerich, he plans to concentrate on directing, and will re-team on some projects with Devlin, who will now also look to work with other directors. The duo last collaborated on Sony’s “The Patriot.”

Contributing columnist Stephen Galloway can be reached at [email protected].

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