Disney guides 'Hitchhiker'
'Guide' books H.wood slot; legal venom
Hollywood Pictures president David Vogel has purchased screen rights to the book, with "Austin Powers" helmer Jay Roach to direct and Caravan's Roger Birnbaum to produce. Adams will write the script with Roach, with Vogel hoping to be in preproduction this time next year, to make it a summer event film for 2000.
"The single most substantial frustration of my entire career was that this was not a movie," said Adams's longtime literary agent Ed Victor, who with CAA's Bob Bookman closed a Disney deal he called "substantial and special."
The piece has succeeded as a novel, radio play, computer game and TV show (a BBC adaptation, starring Peter Jones and Simon Jones, aired in the U.S. in 1982). But the bigscreen has been a different story. "For nearly 20 years, I went around saying there's this great science-fiction comedy where earthlings and aliens mingle, and they'd say yes, maybe, no," said Victor. "But after 'Men in Black,' they were all asking how can I get a sci-fi comedy where earthlings and aliens mingle, and there it is, laying in the road like a golden nugget."
The novel centers around Arthur Dent, who lays himself in front of a bulldozer that is preparing to flatten his house, to make room for a highway. Suddenly Dent is whisked away by Ford Prefect, an alien researching "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." It turns out Planet Earth is similarly scheduled to be flattened to make way for an intergalactic bypass.
Dent becomes a galaxy traveler who discovers that mice actually created Earth as an experiment that didn't work out. For their next, they want Dent's brain and he's soon racing across the galaxy to get away from them.
Vogel said the novel is highly adaptable and that Roach has the right take.
"It's a timeless book, which works in people's consciousness and is appropriate for the millennium as people wonder if there's anything else out there," Vogel said.
Caravan's Birnbaum was brought the book by his execs Jon Glickman and Derek Evans, and Roach brought in the book separately to Vogel.
Also for Vogel, Roach is about to direct an untitled David E. Kelley script about hockey, to star Russell Crowe ("L.A. Confidential"). Once that puck is in the nets, Roach will write "Galaxy" with Adams. Roach is repped by ICM's Paul Haas.
Adams has worked on two different drafts so far, one with Ivan Reitman and former Monkee Mike Nesmith. Vogel said they'll start fresh, but Nesmith will maintain some kind of "godfather" role, with Adams exec producing with Robby Stamp.
LEGAL FANGS: CL Cinema Line Films Corp. partners Verna Harrah, Leonard Rabinowitz and Carole Little, who produced "Anaconda," are engaged in a snakepit of litigation as they continue to dissolve the interests of their partnership.
On one side is Harrah, the wealthy heiress of gambling magnate William Harrah; on the other are Rabinowitz and Little, the now-divorced duo who run the popular Carole Little clothing line. The latter pair hatched Cinema Line, brought Harrah into the fold and then sold 95% of the company to her. Both parties have moved on, developing projects under new companies they formed. But tensions remain high.
The battle started after Harrah attempted to extinguish the remaining 5% she hadn't already purchased. Rabinowitz and Little first sued for fraud, but then filed a claim asking fair market value for their 5%.
"I dropped the fraud suit ... because I didn't want to be in litigation with Verna after a wonderful five-year relationship," Rabinowitz said. "Verna owes me no monetary damages, other than the legal expenses which I've incurred in defending this suit."
Harrah's lawyer, Dale Kinsella, sees the litigation in a different light. "Leonard has demanded 12 times more than the assessed fair market value made by an established appraiser, and he has yet to retain any kind of appraiser," he said. "When Verna refused to pay, he filed the statutory claim. It's a complete and palpable sham."
Harrah responded to Rabinowitz's statutory claim with a cross complaint seeking damages, based on claims that Rabinowitz breached an agreement to repurchase 50% of the company after divorcing Little.
"We're claiming, based on specific statements made by Leonard, that she paid an inflated amount for the stock because he was going to come back and acquire 50%," Kinsella said. "Their relationship made this all more palatable."
Kinsella continued, "Not only was she induced by Mr. Rabinowitz's inflated value, the crown jewel here, 'Anaconda,' was plucked by Rabinowitz and Little. Even though Ms. Harrah paid 100% for 95% of the company, Rabinowitz and Little got 75% of the backend on 'Anaconda.' ... Somebody will have to determine whether it was fair."
Rabinowitz countered: "The claim that I orally promised to buy back 50% of the company and marry her is a fabrication I didn't even hear about until I asked for an independent appraisal. In fact, a cohabitation agreement Verna and I signed specifically prohibits oral agreements."
Rabinowitz feels part of Harrah's beef is that he and Little got more attention than she did for producing "Anaconda," a surprise hit that grossed about $135 million worldwide. He said going from courtship to courtroom is sad, especially after he nursed Harrah through the after-effects of a kidney transplant.
"No good deed goes unpunished," he mused.
