Samuel L. Jackson has followed a successful debut as a producer on "Eve's Bayou" by setting up a slew of films he plans to produce and star in. Tops on the list is a plan for Jackson to star with Matt Damon in "Training Day," a gritty drama. Jackson will also executive produce.
Jackson's already got a full dance card as an actor. With "Jackie Brown" in theaters, he'll soon be seen in the Barry Levinson-directed "Sphere" and is wrapping a co-starring role alongside Kevin Spacey in "The Negotiator." Using his clout to produce the $5 million "Bayou," which has achieved critical acclaim and a $12 million gross, proved as satisfying as acting because the film otherwise might have been left on the byway.
So he's lined up a slate of films, even if by his own admission, he's working backwards. Most producers form a company, get a logo and a housekeeping deal before they get a film in the can. Jackson hasn't yet figured out a name or found a home for his new venture.
"My company's not called anything, and none of these studios are giving me these gorgeous deals I read about in the trades," Jackson said. "I don't know if I want one. I've scattered projects all around town, like a gunslinger.
"I don't really know exactly what I want to do yet as a producer. I just found some projects I thought would be interesting to an audience and I'd like to tell. I've learned that as a producer, you can pump life into films in some ways, or stop their growth if that growth is outward instead of upward."
He said one of the most promising projects is "Training Day," the gritty tale of a rookie cop's first day on the LAPD narcotics undercover squad. He's paired with an out-of-control veteran, to be played by Jackson. "He's basically corrupt and teaching the kid all of the wrong things," said Jackson, who figures to star alongside Damon, whom he met when he nearly took a role in "Good Will Hunting." "Training Day" was scripted by David Ayer and will be directed by first- timer Davis Guggenheim. Bobby Newmyer and Joel Schumacher are producing.
Jackson has made a Dimension deal for "Mefisto in Onyx," a Greg Widen-penned adaptation of a Harlan Ellison novella about a serial killer who trades memories with a "mind jumper." Jackson will star and produce with his Addis-Wechsler managers, Eli Selden and Julie Yorn.
He's looking for a studio to step up on "The 51st State," an original screenplay by Stel Pavlou to which Uli Edel is attached to direct. It's a darkly comic look at how the introduction of a designer drug affects the underground Liverpool rave scene. Jackson produces with Focus Films and Addis-Wechsler. "It's a pretty bizarre tale about this U.S. chemist, this anti-American Brit and his lethal hitwoman girlfriend, and the adventures they have trying out this drug on the raver scene," Jackson said.
He will exec produce "Caveman's Valentine," a film produced by Jersey Films and "Get Shorty" scribe Scott Frank. It's an adaptation of the George Dawes Green novel about a paranoid schizophrenic who becomes involved in a murder investigation. Selden and Yorn will exec produce as well, and Jackson will provide himself with an actor's showcase: "I play this homeless paranoid schizophrenic, concert pianist private detective. It brings out all kinds of possibilities."
PSEUDONYMOUS PAR 'POWER PLAY': After notching a "Primary Colors" screen sale for Anonymous, Gotham-based literary agent Kathy Robbins has landed a film deal at Paramount for Pseudonymous. That's the author of "Power Play," a novel about gambling on Indian reservations, which Paramount acquired for producer Robert Evans. Par production prexy Michelle Manning bought the novel within 12 hours of Evans giving it to her. As for the author, before it turns into the witch hunt that "Primary Colors" became for Joe Klein, you should know it's Daily Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart; "Power Play" is his third novel.
Evans, who has spent some time at the gaming tables himself, helped plug Bart into the high-roller circuit to research his novel, and Bart, in turn, gave Evans first read. "It's an extraordinary story," Evans said. "The largest gambling entrepreneurs are not Trump or Wynn or Kerkorian -- they're the Indians. They operate the most profitable casinos in the world and most are not even full-blooded Indians -- they can be one-eighth and still control the tribe, the land and the casino. If they made the worst deal in selling Manhattan for $24, they're making up for it with a weapon more lethal than bows and arrows."
The plot of "Power Play" focuses on a forward-looking Native American who, having made a fortune on his reservation, decides to take on the gambling elite in Las Vegas. The Vegas players do not take this invasion lightly, especially since their new competitor also has plunged into the exotic world of Internet gambling.
Bart kept his name off the novel to avoid any potential conflict of interest, and he will have nothing further to do with the development of the project. Evans' involvement as producer, however, represents a throwback to the '70s when Bart served with Evans at Paramount and the studio turned out such films as "The Godfather," "Love Story" and "Chinatown."
According to Robbins, three publishers are vying for publication rights to the novel. Evans has his own plans for the film project. "I've got P.T. (Paul Thomas) Anderson very excited about adapting and directing it," Evans enthused. "Before he directed 'Boogie Nights,' he covered the gambling terrain very convincingly with 'Hard Eight.' I'm also giving it to Jack Nicholson, who is perfect for the main role."
SQUINT, HOLLYWOOD, SQUINT: There's good news and bad news for the Joe Eszterhas-scripted mockumentary "An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn." The good news is that Disney's launched an unprecedented ad blitz, taking the front page of the New York Times every day until the pic's Feb. 27 opening. The bad news is, the ads are as hard to read as the fine print in a net profit contract. Disney's reserved the two-line tag at the bottom of each front page, with a different quip each day from the satire. "I call it Disney's magnifying glass campaign -- if you've a good magnifying glass, you'll see the ads," Eszterhas said. Although Disney shot down several slogans as too racy, it kicked off the campaign with the line "I'm a producer, not a pimp," which cheered the pic's writer and co-producer. "I got Mickey Mouse to put the word 'pimp' on the front page of the good gray lady of American journalism on behalf of my Mickey Rat movie," Eszterhas said.
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