Miramax, Intermedia, BBC team up on 'Iris'

Project attracts heavy hitters Pollack, Rudin, Fox

By ADAM DAWTREY

Dench

LONDON -- Miramax Films, Intermedia and BBC Films are in advanced negotiations to co-finance "Iris," with Judi Dench to star as the Alzheimer's-afflicted novelist Iris Murdoch.

The pic, to be directed by Richard Eyre, is adapted from the account of Murdoch's decline and death by her husband, John Bayley.

The project has attracted a veritable galaxy of heavy-hitting producers -- Sydney Pollack, Scott Rudin and Robert Fox -- drawn together by their shared passion for the material. It is in turnaround from Sony.

Intermedia and BBC Films are also close to a deal to co-finance Walter Salles' long-gestating project "The Assumption of the Virgin." Juliette Binoche will star in this tale of art and illicit passion set in 14th century Italy.

The pic comes to Intermedia through its first-look deal with Pollack and Anthony Minghella's Mirage Enterprises.

Minghella's wife Carolyn Choa is the producer alongside David Lascelles, and Minghella himself is understood to have done the most recent rewrite of Leigh Jackson's original screenplay.

Minghella is taking an exec producer credit with Mark Shivas of Perpetual Motion Pictures.