Just a few quickies this time.
1. Production Weekly reports that John Leguizamo may be starring in a thriller called The Ministers, to be shot this winter:
Penned by Reyes’ the script centers on a female NYPD detective, whose father was murdered in the line of duty 13 years ago. The only evidence left behind at the scene of the crime was a pamphlet from a mysterious religious group known only as “The Ministers.”
When she learns the group has begun to kill again after being dormant for over a decade, she is taken off the case and ordered to stay away from the investigation. Unbeknown to her she is romantically involved with a member of “The Ministers,” and her personal and professional lives are becoming murderously intertwined.
2. I recently spoke with a FoxFaith publicist who told me that, while The Color of the Cross may be released on video under that label, it will not be under that banner when it comes to theatres October 27. In the meantime, Variety reports that FoxFaith has struck a deal with Jeff Clanagan’s Codeblack Entertainment:
Under Codeblack’s deal, the company will develop and produce films for FoxFaith aimed at African-American auds. Pics will be budgeted at less than $5 million.
The first two projects under the deal are “Mama, I Want to Sing!,” based on the Off Broadway gospel musical, to be written and directed by Charles Randolph Wright; and “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” based on the stage play by the Rev. David Payton, to be written and directed by Leslie Small.
“Mama” tells the story of a preacher’s daughter who rises from the church choir to international pop stardom. Clanagan will produce the pic with Holly Davis Carter.
“A Good Man,” also being produced by Clanagan, focuses on the weakening of the African-American family, the diminishing black male population and the changing role of black women. . . .
3. Variety reports that Paul Scheuring, creator of the TV series Prison Break, is developing an English-language remake of Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Das Experiment (2001; my comments), a rather visceral film inspired by the Stanford prison experiment.
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