Red-hot writer/director Jim Sheridan is seeing green over "Yellow Handkerchief" after tentatively agreeing to a $ 3 million deal to helm and write the colorful love story for Universal and co-producer Shochiku Co. Ltd., sources said Friday.
Sheridan reportedly agreed through lawyer Ira Shreck to bring the weepie, based on a short story by New York journalist Pete Hamill, to the big screen, providing he can come up with a workable treatment of the story. Hamill already has written a screen-play based on the story, but sources said it was unlikely it would be used. Sheridan plans to spend the next four weeks working on his own treatment of the story.
"He's got a month to come up with this treatment," one source said. "As long as he likes the treatment or starts rewriting the script, then it's a deal."
POV concerns
Sheridan reportedly is concerned over whether the pic should be shot with flashbacks or told in the present tense.
Sources said he will write the new version with "In the Name of the Father" co-scripter Terry George. Hamill wrote the original draft script. U execs are confident that Sheridan is fully committed to making the film.
Sheridan has hovered over the project for almost two years and shown serious interest in past months (Daily Variety, Jan. 26, 1994). The Oscar-nominated helmer (for "In the Name of the Father" and "My Left Foot") has been heavily wooed by U, especially since the success of the acclaimed "Father," about an unjustly imprisoned Irishman.
"Yellow Handkerchief" is the first fruit of a joint production venture with Universal andShochiku, one of Japan's largest multimedia companies.
Sources said Shochiku has put up the $ 20 million initial financing, but that budget figure may rise if major talent is attached.
Under the agreement, U will distrib domestically and worldwide, except for Japan, which Shochiku will handle.
Based on a short story by Hamill, the plot chronicles a recently released prison inmate eager to reunite with his wife.
He tells her that if she'll take him back, she should tie a yellow handkerchief around her hometown's oak tree. When he returns home, there are 200 handkerchiefs tied to the tree.
Hamill's brother, Brian, approached producer Andrew Gaty with the idea to do the pic. Gaty and Brian Hamill are producers.
Hamill, Sheridan and George will likely get script credit. Exec producers are Toru Okuyama and Kazuyoshi Okuyama, of Shochiku. Lenny Kornberg is the U exec in charge of production.
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