'Ali' helmer will punch up prod'n

Forward Pass banner to focus on film, TV

By MICHAEL FLEMING

NEW YORK -- Michael Mann is partnering with his former CAA agent Sandy Climan, expanding his film production company and moving into television.

While they'll operate under Mann's existing Forward Pass banner, the entity will broaden from Mann-directed vehicles, producing two to three films per year. Forward Pass will also reintroduce Mann -- the architect of "Miami Vice" and "Crime Story" -- to the small screen. The company plans to become heavily involved in launching TV series.

Move comes just as Sony prepares to open Mann's latest directing effort, "Ali," on Dec. 25, with Will Smith starring as boxing great Muhammad Ali.

With strong credentials on both the talent and global finance sides, Climan will work to move Forward Pass -- which at one time was with Disney -- into a new deal with a studio with a long-term plan to add an outside financing component as the division moves beyond film and TV into areas such as music.

Mann and Climan have been friends for 10 years and worked together while Climan was a longtime member of the senior management team at CAA, representing the director for part of that time. Climan also served a stint as an executive vice president in charge of worldwide development at Universal and has most recently been managing director of Entertainment Media Ventures, an investment and advisory group he'll continue to direct.

"What we want to do is build a company that will make a large number of films and serve as an umbrella to other talent, which is something we both enjoy," Climan said. "We both have good reputations with talent. We'll start with a traditional studio arrangement and will move on to create scenarios that give us more independence and flexibility as we grow. There are ongoing discussions that should come to fruition within the next few months. And television, which is the medium Michael came from, is going to be as high a priority as film."

Climan will join Mann in continuing to shepherd a slate filled with plum projects. Among them is a New Line-based biopic of Howard Hughes with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to star and Mann directing.

Another project is a U-based David Self-scripted adaptation of the Steven Pressfield novel "Gates of Fire," which George Clooney is co-producing with Rubicon -- a joint production between Forward Pass and Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone. Scripted by John Orloff, the latter is an epic about the battle between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great for world dominance.

"Having always valued Sandy's collaboration and counsel, I'm looking forward to partnering with him for the next few years," Mann said.