Elijah Wood is set as the lead in Castle Rock Entertainment's production "North," a comedy abouta young boy on a search for new parents, to be directed by Rob Reiner. Production on the Columbia Pictures release is slated to begin May 4.
The 12-year-old actor's pay-or-play deal, which closed late yesterday, was confirmed by Castle Rock partner Martin Shafer and Wood's agent, Brian Swardstrom of the William Morris Agency.
Alan Zweibel and Castle Rock partner Andrew Scheinman wrote the script, based on Zweibel's novel "North." It's about a prodigy named North (Wood) who goes on a worldwide search to interview new parents but ultimately realizes there's no place like home.
Shafer also confirmed that other talent deals are being negotiated on "North" with Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (stars of Castle Rock's NBC series "Seinfeld") to play Wood's parents; Bruce Willis, portraying multiple characters who each serve as a Yodalike adviser to North; Jon Lovitz as the lawyer who tries to help get North free from his parents; and John Candy as a dad candidate in Texas. An offer has also gone out to "Dances With Wolves" co-star Graham Greene.
Production is to get under way in New York on May 4, with additional lensing in Hawaii, Alaska and Los Angeles.
Wood, currently in front of the cameras co-starring opposite Macaulay Culkin in Joseph Ruben's psychological thriller "The Good Son," will wrap work on the pic March 18. He had the lead role in Disney's screen version of the Mark Twain classic "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," slated for release April 2.
Last year, the young actor co-starred with Mel Gibson in Warner Bros.' comedy adventure "Forever Young" and in Richard Donner's "Radio Flyer." His other previous credits include Barry Levinson's semiautobiographical 1990 movie "Avalon"; Mary Agnes Donoghue's 1991 coming-of-age story "Paradise"; and the 1990 releases "Internal Affairs," directed by Mike Figgis, and "Back to the Future II" for Steven Spielberg.
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