Rydell, Castle Rock ink deal for 'Fertig'
Rydell, a born-and-bred New Yorker who lives in L.A., is slated to produce and helm the Manhattan-based project off a script by David Black.
The deal was brokered by Castle Rock prexy Martin Shafer and prexy of production Liz Glotzer, along with ICM agents Jeff Berg, Guy McElwaine and Dave Wirtschafter.
Baldwin's participation in the flick is still indefinite, but Rydell said the thesp is "passionately interested."
Baldwin has been looking ardently for projects for his newlycreated El Dorado Prods., which has a first-look deal with Castle Rock.
Rydell said he'd love to use Baldwin in the lead, but wants his own Concourse Prods. to develop and produce the pic.
"He's a sensational actor, but if I hire him it'll be as an actor, not as a partner," Rydell said. "He is notattached. He is just pursuing."
Baldwin, if hooked to the deal, would play an ethically questionable New York lawyer who finds redemption defending a murderer.
The plot involves a man whose sick child dies after a hospital emergency room staff refuses to treat him. The man goes on a vicious spree, killing all involved with his son's death. The lawyer takes on the case because it could foster his aspirations for higher political office, but he becomes emotionally involved in the case.
"Alec would be great. He has a real facility for that kind of role," Rydell said.
Baldwin could not be reached for comment.
Rydell, meanwhile, likened the piece to a Paddy Chayefsky drama.
"It's a very adult strong picture of substance," he said. "It's kind of about political corruption and human corruption. Everyone who might come to see it will see a Chayefsky piece of material.
NY's underbelly
"It has that kind of feel, but it's perhaps more the underbelly of New York, dealing with the political system, Bellevue, Riker's Island, and at the same time a love story."
Rydell's long list of helming credits includes "For the Boys,""On Golden Pond ,""Cinderella Liberty,""The River" and "The Cowboys."
His last project, "Intersection," dropped domestically in B.O., garnering only $ 20.7 million against a reportedly hefty budget of $ 40 mil.
But the pic has picked up overseas, where it opened in early April. It has grossed some $ 6.7 million in France, Germany, Spain and Sweden in just a few weeks.
