The Angelina Jolie starrer, "Atlas Shrugged," may not become the ambitious trilogy initially proposed ala "Lord of the Rings" after all, reports co-exec producer Karen Baldwin.
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| Atlas Shrugged Pulling Together Into One for Angelina Jolie |
"We've hired Randall Wallace ("Braveheart," "We Were Soldiers"), and he's going to revise the script, so we're letting Randy and his writing determine how many movies there will be," says Baldwin, confirming that "Angelina Jolie is attached to play Dagny," the heroine in Ayn Rand's classic 1957 novel about a powerful railroad executive determined to keep her business going while the society she lives in is falling apart.
"We don't have any other casting. We're working on that right now," says Baldwin. "Ideally we'd like to have the script so we could be in preproduction in the spring."
She adds a director won't be firmed up for the Lionsgate project until the script is complete.
MEANWHILE:
The Baldwin Entertainment Group also has a Jackie Robinson biopic on the front burner. "We have a deal with Fox Searchlight. Robert Redford is attached to play Branch Rickey" -- the Major League Baseball executive who signed Robinson -- "and Thomas Carter is directing," says Baldwin. "The two writers, Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen Rivele are working on the script." She says they haven't decided on who will play the legendary Jackie Robinson, the athlete who broke the color barrier in the pro baseball leagues. "We've really seen a lot of actors, and a couple of people are at the forefront right now and there are a lot of fun roles. The script is due in this week. We expect to be in preproduction soon with filming to start on or about March."
HE'S B-A-A-A-CK: After being told repeatedly by wife Shirley Jones, "Get your own career. Obsess on your own career. Get your own Emmy," it appears performer-manager-town character Marty Ingels might be taking a step in that direction. At least, he's working.
Ingels tells us that his ever-genteel, Academy Award-winning actress wife's complaints -- that his efforts on behalf of her career were becoming excessive -- reached a crescendo after he spent $150,000 on a campaign toward getting her Emmy notice for the Hallmark film "Hidden Places" this past summer.
He took them seriously. The Ingels' 30-year marriage has not been trouble-free; they've had a few separations, lived apart for a year on the advice of a counselor a while back, and Jones' sons (Shaun, Patrick and Ryan) "never took to me. Shaun is a tough case, very judgmental," he says of the actor-cum-writer-producer. "I've been on the scene since Ryan was a little kid and Shaun was just about to become a big TV star, but even now he tells her, 'Come to my house, but don't bring him.'"
Anyway, "I was sitting here wondering what my life is about, and all of a sudden I got a call on a show. It just couldn't have been better timing," says the self-described "joyful nutcase" who had his own series ("I'm Dickens, He's Fenster") back in the day.
It was for an audition for "ER," to play "this hypochondriac who's convinced he's blind, has to have a specialist, threatens to sue everybody." Ingels got the role, and the episode airs Nov. 2 -- in sweeps. He wants to act again, of course, but clearly isn't giving up his role as Shirley's No. 1 promoter. "Her career is booming," he wants us to know. "During the Emmy nomination period, she got a job doing a series for Lifetime, called 'Bianca,' and she's narrating a nine-hour Public Television documentary on the Hollywood musical."
SPEAKING OF MUSICALS:
Jason Alexander is apparently going to moisten his directing chops -- with a production of Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park With George" (as in Seurat, not Costanza) opening at the end of January at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.
BEHIND THE SCENES:
"CSI: Miami's" taciturn David Caruso is a tough taskmaster, says Rex Linn, who plays Caruso's partner on the CBS drama. "You don't go to work unprepared with David Caruso. You'll get you're a-- in a sling," says the actor, who stars as Det. Frank Tripp on the show that's become the most watched in the world. "He knows everybody's lines and he's one of the smartest actors I've ever worked with. I love that challenge. The good thing about working with David is he raises the bar."
Linn makes it clear it's not all work and no play for the "CSI: Miami" troupe that is already up to the 10th episode of the season. "David's one of the funniest individuals on this planet," he says. "He's had the whole crew on the floor laughing."
(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)
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