Shel bio on the Big Screen

For various & diverse reasons I check the show biz news whenever I get around to it and I was surprised that I missed a story run in Variety on May 3, 2011 , about a big screen (a feature as opposed to TV fare) project 'bout Shelby. It coincides with what Shelby's rights attorney told me a few months ago--that Paramount had the rights to a Shelby story. Here's the whole story from Variety as I found it. Anybody out there got updates on casting? Film start date? Release date? Screenwriter? Or who's Cobras will be on screen?


Copyright 2011 Reed Business Information, US, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All Rights Reserved


Daily Variety

May 3, 2011

TOP NEWS; Film; Pg. 1

451 words


H'WOOD HAS AUTO FOCUS


Never mind that gas is heading toward $5 per gallon by summer. Hollywood's love affair with the automobile is just heating up, as the success of Universal's "Fast and Furious" franchise has every studio looking for its own car-themed hit.

Once a staple of the studio slate, films featuring four-wheeled action had fallen out of favor in recent years, after pricey box office underperformers like Disney's Jerry Bruckheimer-produced "Gone in 60 Seconds" and the Joel Silver-produced "Speed Racer" at Warner Bros.

But U's "Fast Five," the fifth installment in the decade-old series, proves that auds - particularly young men - still thirst for high-octane car chases. The film, with its multi-ethnic cast and overseas appeal, has already nabbed $168 million worldwide. In the U.S, ethnic auds accounted for a healthy 65% of the gross, helping the pic become thebiggest opener of the year.

"I am very pleasantly surprised that the franchise has had such legs," said "Fast Five" producer Neal Moritz. "But these films are perfect popcorn fare. They are very escapist."

Other studios have taken notice:

Warner Bros. has high hopes for a potential "Hot Wheels" franchise, based on the toy cars from Mattel. Silver is on board to produce.

n The Weinstein Co. is in active development on a bigscreen incarnation of 1980s TV series "Knight Rider."

n Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are developing a remake of the 1976 action comedy "Eat My Dust." Howard starred in the Roger Corman-produced original.

n There are at least three pics in development centering on Italian sports-car designer Enzo Ferrari. Fox is moving forward on "Race to the Death," based on the true story of the rivalry between the Ford Motor Co. and Ferrari. Paramount is shepherding "Street Legal," which chronicles the story of racecar driver Carroll Shelby, who rose from humble beginnings to take Le Mans title from Ferrari.And Michael Mann is attached to direct and produce a Ferrari biopic.

"If they are good movies with interesting, original characters and a fresh new take on the car genre film, then why not?" Moritz said.

Meanwhile, two more gas-fueled blockbusters loom this summer: Paramount/DreamWorks' "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and Disney/Pixar's "Cars 2."

As for U, scribe Chris Morgan is already penning a "Fast & Furious 6," and a greenlight seems a no-brainer, with auds showing no signs of fatigue (though "Fast Five's" marketing campaign played up the film's heist angle in an effort to keep the series feeling fresh, says a U exec). New addition Dwayne Johnson's contract doesn't call for him to reprise his role in a sixth outing, but Moritz said Johnson is a huge fan of the films and would likely return.

May 3, 2011

 

Has A.J. Baime released any news about the fate of the lensing of his book?

If you get a chance read the book "Go Like Hell" which is very readable compared to most racing books. After reading about it I got a copy and was waiting for news newer than this 2009 story.The old story described here is when Baime (who is a Playboy magazine editor) was interviewed on the Adam Carola show. By the way am i the only one who thinks Adam looks like Shelby circa 1950s? By the way I think Brad Pitt is too much under the thumb of you know who to ever be allowed to get near a race car...
-----------------------------------------------------

THE OLD CAROLA REFERENCE (dating back to 2009)
Home » News Archive
Brad Pitt and Daniel Day-Lewis Go Like Hell to Re-Live Racing History


in the 60′s, Ferrari ruled the Le Mans. Ford, the Motor City’s native son, sought to topple the Italian juggernaut in the iconic European race by hiring top-notch drivers and beating them in their own race.

The tale was captured in A.J. Baime’s book Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. The book recently got optioned and is now being produced by Lucas Foster. Some of his other works include Law-Abiding Citizen, Man on Fire, and Executive Produced on Bad Boys and Crimson Tide.

During a recent appearance on Adam Carolla’s Podcast, Foster talked about how closet gearheads were finally stepping up and vocalizing their interest in the project. Notably, Brad Pitt, but also Josh Brolin, Russell Crowe, Matt Damon (specifically for the role of Phil Hill), Eric Bana, and Daniel Day-Lewis.

The cast features some of speed’s biggest names. Henry Ford II, Enzo Ferrari, both of their name-sake companies; Lee Iacocca of Chrysler, Phil Hill- an F1 racer that left Ferrari’s racing team for Ford, and Carroll Shelby- professional racer and creator of Ford’s precision machines, namely the Shelby Cobra and the Ford GT in addition to many more.

In Carolla’s interview, Foster plans to have “a really cool writer and we’re in the middle of hiring a director,” and also intends to shoot the film “from the driver’s perspective” to help convey the sense of driving 200 miles an hour for a day.

Who would you think would do a good job conveying the speed? Any thoughts or other input?

Source: Cinemablend
--------------------------
Go Like Hell is $17.96 on Amazon.com
Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans [Hardcover]

A.J. Baime (Author)

4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
84 Reviews
5 star: (63)
4 star: (12)
3 star: (6)
2 star: (2)
1 star: (1)

› See all 84 customer reviews...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List Price: $26.00
Price: $17.16