Walden Media has picked up a untitled treatment by Jim Meenaghan and Brandon Hooper for a feature that is set against the backdrop of Maverick's, home to one of the largest and most dangerous surf breaks on the planet.
Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman have been hired to write the screenplay for the film, which will be produced by Meenaghan and Hooper.
The story is based on the true adventures of surfing wonderboy Jay Moriarity, who while still a teenager took on the waves at Northern California surfing jewel Maverick's, where the winter swells pull in waves five stories tall. He had prodded wise surfing elder Rick "Frosty" Hesson to prepare him, and after finally relenting, the local legend put Moriarity through a program of intense physical training.
Moriarity died a day before his 23rd birthday in a free-diving accident.
Meenaghan is executive vp business and legal affairs at Walden Media, and Hooper is an independent writer-producer.
Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman have been hired to write the screenplay for the film, which will be produced by Meenaghan and Hooper.
The story is based on the true adventures of surfing wonderboy Jay Moriarity, who while still a teenager took on the waves at Northern California surfing jewel Maverick's, where the winter swells pull in waves five stories tall. He had prodded wise surfing elder Rick "Frosty" Hesson to prepare him, and after finally relenting, the local legend put Moriarity through a program of intense physical training.
Moriarity died a day before his 23rd birthday in a free-diving accident.
Meenaghan is executive vp business and legal affairs at Walden Media, and Hooper is an independent writer-producer.
- 7/19/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jodie Foster is getting back into the director's chair for Sugar Kings, a drama for Universal Pictures being produced by studio-based Tribeca Films. The feature also is being developed as a possible starring vehicle for Foster. Kings, by screenwriters Ned Zeman and Daniel Barnz, is based on the Vanity Fair article In the Kingdom of Big Sugar by Marie Brenner. The story centers on a female lawyer, fresh out of law school, who teams with a veteran public-interest attorney to take on a powerful sugar baron on behalf of exploited migrant workers. Tribeca's Jane Rosenthal is producing.
- 7/26/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jodie Foster is getting back into the director's chair for Sugar Kings, a drama for Universal Pictures being produced by studio-based Tribeca Films. The feature also is being developed as a possible starring vehicle for Foster. Kings, by screenwriters Ned Zeman and Daniel Barnz, is based on the Vanity Fair article In the Kingdom of Big Sugar by Marie Brenner. The story centers on a female lawyer, fresh out of law school, who teams with a veteran public-interest attorney to take on a powerful sugar baron on behalf of exploited migrant workers. Tribeca's Jane Rosenthal is producing.
- 7/26/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Teri Hatcher went home and cried after the Desperate Housewives' infamous photo shoot for the May issue of Vanity Fair magazine. In April, writer Ned Zeman claimed there was a disagreement over Hatcher's position in the shoot, saying, "Teri Hatcher absolutely was not to be in the centre of the women. There had been some tension on the set over who's getting the awards and who's getting most of the magazine covers - that would be Teri Hatcher." Zeman claimed redhead Marcia Cross had been screaming at the ABC publicity team over the way the shoot was going, leading to speculation Cross and Hatcher did not get on. However, Hatcher explains, "Honestly I don't recall crying (during the shoot) - it would've screwed up my make-up. I'm pretty sure I cried when I left... feeling hurt and maybe picked on. I really care about all the girls. Nobody wants to work that way. There are lots of reasons someone behaves how they do." Hatcher also takes the opportunity to slam the media's sexist reporting, for alleging female co-stars never get on. She says, "I bet there was a day on ER when Anthony Edwards went, 'Why's George Clooney getting that scene?' but I don't know that anybody wrote it."...
- 6/10/2005
- WENN
The stars of Desperate Housewives turned into desperate divas on the set of their Vanity Fair cover shoot when Marcia Cross took offense at the star treatment lavished on Golden Globe-winner Teri Hatcher. According to writer Ned Zeman, who was present when the bust-up occurred, Cross "lost it" when Hatcher was moved into the center of the group shot, despite publicists' demands that photographers treat cast members as equals. Zeman says, "ABC (TV) publicity demanded that, in all the different set-ups that the women would be posed for photographs, Teri Hatcher absolutely was not to be in the center of the women. There had been some tension on the set over who's getting the awards and who's getting most of the magazine covers - that would be Teri Hatcher." And when Hatcher seemed to be taking over the shoot, through no fault of her own, Cross showed off her fiery side. Zeman adds, "She screamed (the publicist's) name and said, in essence, 'I want you to get over here and do your bleeping job...' Then she launched into this profanity-laced tirade. Teri was most visibly upset and got very emotional and was tearing up and was on her cell phone seeking comfort from someone." Hatcher insists the spat has been blown out of proportion: "However it comes off, I believe that everyone is as grateful to be on the show as I am." Meanwhile, cast mate Eva Longoria claims the fight was sparked by over-the-top primping and preening: "They forget we just shot a 16-hour day the day before and when someone's tweaking every little hair, it's like, 'Stop touching us, just shoot the picture.'"...
- 4/5/2005
- WENN
Mel Gibson's Icon Prods. is in negotiations with Warner Bros. Pictures for Gibson to produce -- with an eye toward starring in -- a movie based on William Queen's upcoming book Under and Alone. The book tells of Queen's infiltration of the Mongols motorcycle gang. Queen was an officer in the Southern California office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, where his three years of undercover work led to more than 80 arrests. Subsequently, he entered the witness protection program. The book will be published by Random House in June. The book deal was put together by ICM, which also represents the two writers attached to write the screenplay -- Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman. Their previous credits include Emperor Zender. The project was brought into Icon by Kevin Lake. Warners' Dan Lin will act as the executive on the project. Gibson and Icon also are repped by ICM.
- 9/23/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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