Hoffman is latest to leave ICM
Thesp wants to direct; Sobieski also ankling
|
Also, actress LeeLee Sobieski, who is toplining Sony's upcoming "The Glass House," will ankle ICM for Creative Artisist Agency.
An internal e-mail distributed companywide late last Thursday said that Hoffman would be leaving the tenpercentery, but it did not specify to which shop the thesp might be headed.
In recent months, ICM clients Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eddie Murphy and Meg Ryan have all decamped the shop.
Not much screen time
Hoffman has not been acting much of late: He had only a small role in the flopped Sony release "The Messenger" in 1999, and his only pic in 1998 was the widely panned "Sphere."
According to insiders, Hoffman's parting of the ways with ICM stemmed from that rather light work sked of late and was exacerbated by Hoffman's desire to begin a directing career that has so far not materialized.
More producing
Hoffman has spent more time recently as a producer, via his Punch Prods. shingle. He produced the 1999 pics "A Walk on the Moon" and "The Furies." Last October, Hoffman and Brillstein-Grey chairman Brad Grey put up their own money to make a low-seven-figure buy of the screen rights to Scott Turow's legal novel "Personal Injuries."
Hoffman's producing partner Jay Cohen did not return a call seeking comment, and a spokeswoman for Punch Prods. said Hoffman was traveling and therefore could not comment on either his departure from ICM or the reasons surrounding it.
Hoffman inked with Artists Management Group for management representation in May 1999 and continues to be managed by AMG.
Hoffman had been repped by chairman and CEO Jeff Berg and by Gotham-based ICM motion picture agent Andrea Eastman.
Expected departure
The departure of Sobieski, who first gained prominence starring as Joan of Arc in an Eye web telepic, had been expected for sometime: According to insiders, her ankling ICM was precipitated by the recent departure of her then-ICM agent Steve Chasman last February.
Chasman, an ICM agent for six years, quickly joined Immortal Entertainment, where he continues to manage Sobieski.
