Schumacher shingle hung out at WB
Warner Bros. gets first look on all new projects from Schumacher Prods. for two years. The deal was ironed out with WB's worldwide prexy of production Bruce Berman, VP of theatrical production Tom Lassally and production veep Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
Kevin Messick, who just exited his VP slot at David Permut's production company, and who is well-known to Warner Bros. through his previous tenure at Joel Silver Prods., will become prexy of the new outfit starting Tuesday. He was unavailable for comment.
"It is something we've wanted to do for a long time, but we really don't have a master plan yet," explained Schumacher, who just returned from a 20-city PR jaunt for his most recent film, "Falling Down."
"We plan to do this project to project, and don't really have a master plan," Schumacher said. "This is totally based on material. We don't even have a quota. We could be doing one film a year, or 10."
Schumacher added that this deal would give him more room to entertain scripts from promising new talent, but that he and Messick first would sit down with WB toppers Robert A. Daly and Terry Semel soon to flesh out a prospective slate.
While with Permut, Messick guided projects like Eric Bernt's "Surviving the Game," which will be helmed by Ernest Dickerson and stars Ice-T. Other pix he will help shepherd while easing into his new positionwill be Clair Noto's "Julia Pastrana," Stephen Metcalfe's "Eddie" and the Mike Werb/Michael Colleary outing "Face/Off."
Up next for Schumacher is a four-month shoot in Memphis for the film adaptation of John Grisham's "The Client," starring Susan Sarandon ("Lorenzo's Oil") and Tommy Lee Jones ("Under Siege"). Tennessee local youngsters Brad Renfro and David Speck will play the young hero who witnesses a murder, and his friend.
