Bibliofemme News
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08/11/2004
New Line buy screen rights to Cholera
New Line have bought the screen rights to Love in the Time of Cholera and Ron Harwood who adapted the Pianist is set to write the screenplay.
The studio bought the rights from producer Scott Steindorff who earlier this year paid Gabriel Garcia Marquez $1 million against $3 million. Before that, the author had refused over fifty offers to sell the film rights since the book became a publishing sensation in 1985.
Steindorff will produce through his Stone Village banner, and New Line executive VP Mark Ordesky will oversee the project. Studio has agreed to move aggressively toward production and Steindorff, who hired Harwood, has mutual approval over creative decisions.
By the time a start date is set, the studio will have assumed Steindorff's $3 million commitment to the author, and the producer will be paid a fee. Stone Village's Scott LaStaiti and Brantley Dunaway are co-producing.
According to Varitey, the Nobel Prize-winning author shunned what Steindorff estimated to be 50 film offers over the years. But Steindorff, who just produced "Empire Falls" at HBO and has Tom Hanks and Lawrence Kasdan poised to do "The Risk Pool," has struck gold buying books for movies. He said his love for "Cholera" made him determined to wear down the author's resistance. It took two years of calling.
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