Wood to star as Iggy Pop

Gomez to direct Schmid's 'Passenger' script

By PATRICK FRATER

CANNES -- Former Hobbit Elijah Wood is to star as Iggy Pop in "The Passenger," a biopic of the legendary rocker.

Pic is to be exec produced by Ted Hope's This Is That Prods. and Traction Media, and repped in international territories by Oz-U.K. sales firm Becker Intl., which in Cannes is handling Directors Fortnight title "Control," about Brit band Joy Division. Traction Media will handle rights in North America.

"Passenger," which follows Pop's early years with his band the Stooges, is to be helmed by Nick Gomez ("Drowning Mona") from a script by Eric Schmid.

Pic will lense in next six months and is skedded for delivery by midsummer 2008. The $6 million-$8 million budget is being put together from a combination of pre-sales, a U.S. equity fund and tax credits from Philadelphia.

Pop has "given his blessing" to the project but will not take part in it, according to Becker's head of finance and operations Jonathan Page.

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