Turteltaub
Landscape Entertainment and Jon Turteltaub's Disney-based Junction Entertainment have teamed to develop "Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs and the 2000 World Series of Poker," which will be based on an article by Jim McManus that will appear as the December cover story of Harper's.
Landscape acquired the feature rights to the piece for Turteltaub ("The Kid") to direct. A search is on for a writer. Turteltaub, however, has yet to commit to his next directing gig. He is still developing "National Treasure," among other projects.
The article details McManus' experience while covering the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and recounts his contestant status in the competition. Amazingly, McManus placed fourth out of 507 professional players, despite his amateur status.
While covering the series, McManus also became embroiled in the murder trial of Ted Binion, whose father originated the World Series of Poker in 1970 and whose Binion's Horseshoe Casino hosted the annual tournament.
Christina Steinberg will produce for Junction and Michael Birnbaum, and Robert Cooper will produce for Landscape. Charles Segars, who found the material and helped facilitate the alliance, will also produce the project with Landscape and Junction.
Michael Birnbaum is senior VP of Landscape Entertainment, where his Empire Pictures banner has an exclusive producing deal. Birnbaum is currently producing Barry Levinson's "Bandits" for MGM.
Turteltaub is also noted for directing such features as "Instinct," "Phenomenon" and "While You Were Sleeping."
Segars is attached as co-executive producer of "National Treasure" at Disney. He is also co-executive producer on the comedy "Yeller," also at Disney, as well as the sci-fi thriller "No Man's Land" at DreamWorks.
Contact Dana Harris at
dana.harris@variety.com