Nicita's novel ideas
Producer sets 2 adaptations, including helming bow
Nicita will make her helming bow with "Fiji, Among the Cannibals," for Middle Fork Prods. and Crusader Entertainment. In addition, IMF-backed Pacifica Film Development has optioned the Bartle Bull novel "A Cafe on the Nile" for Nicita to produce through her own La Luna Films.
Penned by Pulitzer Prize finalist Wallace King, "Fiji," is set in 1843 and tells the story of a middle-aged sea captain who brings his young wife on a trading voyage to Fiji, then known as the land of the cannibals. Left there unexpectedly for five years after he departs, the young woman grows toward self-realization as she immerses herself in the island's culture.
Colleen Camp will produce "Fiji" with Crusader principals Howard and Karen Baldwin, Middle Fork chairman Verna Harrah and Crusader's Phil Anschutz. Middle Fork senior production exec John Goldstone will oversee the project with Crusader exec Nick Morton.
Bull's "Cafe" will be adapted by Joe Batteer and John Rice, who recently collaborated on the upcoming John Woo action thriller "Windtalkers" starring Nicolas Cage.
Acquired as part of La Luna's first-look deal with Pacifica, "Cafe" is an adventure tale of two star-crossed lovers set against the backdrop of the wilds of Africa during the Italian invasion of 1935. Pacifica co-president Chris Dubrow will oversee its development with Nicita.
Crusader is currently in production on "Joshua," Joseph Girzone's novel of the same title, and "Children on Their Birthdays," based on Truman Capote's short story. Also gearing up for production is the Renny Harlin-helmed "A Sound of Thunder," slated for a fall start.
Middle Fork is in production on "Vacuums" and "Who's Your Daddy?," the feature helming debut of theater director Andy Fickman.
Camp most recently produced "An American Rhapsody," to be released through Paramount Classics in November. She is currently producing "Creature Features," a series of five features for HBO with Stan Winston and Lou & Sam Arkoff.
Bull, a former publisher of New York alternative newspaper the Village Voice, is an attorney, explorer and writer of both fiction and nonfiction. He is repped by ICM as well as Brandt and Hochman Literary Agents.
Credits for Batteer, who is repped by the William Morris Agency, and Rice, who is repped by the Gersh Agency, include 1994's "Blown Away."
Nicita, who previously directed the short "Jazz Night" for Lifetime TV, and King are both repped by Sanford Gross.
