Par, Rudin to rewire 'Wives'
Studio lands hot property
Rudin will produce with Edgar Scherick and Gabriel Grunfeld, with Keri Selig exec producing. Former Touchstone president Donald De Line is also expected to come aboard as producer.
Scherick produced the original film and now partners with Grunfeld in Scherick-Grunfeld Prods. Selig is senior veep for Kopelson Entertainment. Larry Kennar of Writers & Artists brokered the film rights deal.
The 1974 film became a hot commodity over the past several weeks, with WB, Universal and New Regency all chasing the property before Paramount won it. The original film was scripted by William Goldman and starred Katharine Ross as a newcomer to a suburb outside Manhattan whose picturesque scenery is a facade. She learns that her neighbors lead blissful lives because the husbands have banded together to have their wives transformed into robotized models of their former selves. The new and "improved" models don't complain, and are completely subservient to their hubbies.
The producers and studio will look to hire a top writer to script a pic that will have a "Witches of Eastwick" tone and big stars. Scherick is the former ABC programming head who went on to produce such films as "Take the Money and Run," and miniseries like "The Kennedys of Massachusetts" and "The Phantom of the Opera." It's a homecoming of sorts for Scherick and Rudin, as the Paramount powerhouse producer began his career working for Scherick.
