Kaufman 'Interrupted'

Director signs on to for 'Rebel' Ray biopic

By STEVEN ZEITCHIK

Kaufman

"The Right Stuff" helmer Philip Kaufman has signed on to direct "I Was Interrupted," a biopic about "Rebel Without a Cause" director Nicholas Ray, from a script by "Jesus' Son" scribe Oren Moverman.

Danny Fisher of production company City Lights and Kaufman's Walrus & Associates will co-produce.

Script will be based on Ray's memoir of the same name and tackle the last decade of the late director's life, especially his relationship with the teenage Susan Schwartz, who eventually became his wife. No start date has been set for the production.

Ray struggled with drugs and alcohol and waged several battles with Hollywood.

"It's really about how a legendary figure in America reinvents himself," Fisher said of the biopic.

Fisher studied under Ray as a film student.

Kaufman's last pic was "Twisted" in 2004.