Boxoffice-November.1999

Girl, Interrupted
Winona Ryder ("Alien: Resurrection")
headlines this drama based on Susanna
Kaysen's memoir about her 18-month
stay as an adolescent girl in a New
England psychiatric hospital in the
1960s. Angelina Jolie ("Pushing Tin"),
Vanessa Redgrave ("Mrs. Dalloway")
and Whoopi Goldberg ("The Deep End
of the Ocean") co-star. Director James
Mangold ("Cop Land") also scripts with
Anna Hamilton Phelan, Lisa Loomer
and Susan Shilliday ("Legends of the
Fall"); Douglas Wick ("Hush") and
Cathy Konrad ("Teaching Mrs. Tingle")
produce. (Columbia, 12/21 ltd, 1/14 exp)
Exploitips: This is one for the girls' night out, especially for
baby boomers who remember growing up in this era.
Coordinate with a nearby bookstore to generate greater awareness
of both the film and the book. Held from September.
COLUMBIA TRI5TAR
FILM DISTRIBUTORS
INTERNATIONAL
a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company
Hanging Up
Diane Keaton ("Unstrung Heroes")
does double duty as the director and
star of this comedy-drama about how
three sisters come to terms with their
ornery father's death. Meg Ryan
("You've Got Mail"), Lisa Kudrow
("Analyze This") and Walter Matthau
("Grumpier Old Men") co-star. "You've
Got Mail's" Delia and Nora Ephron
script based on the former's novel;
Laurence Mark ("Bicentennial Man")
produces with the latter. (Columbia,
1 2/25)
Exploitips: Nora Ephron originally intended to direct this film
herself but eventually deemed the subject matter a bit too close
for comfort:
Her sister's
novel is semiautobiographical.
Keaton's
role in the
film, too, has
been altered.
She had initially
agreed
to work on the
film solely
behind the
camera until a
reading with
Kudrow convinced
the
studio that it
wanted to sign
both women
to star.
Daddy and Them
"Sling Blade's" Billy Bob
Thornton writes, directs and stars
in this comedy about a dysfunctional
white trash family who
comes to the aid of an uncle
when he's charged with murder. Thornton's off-screen steady
Laura Dern ("October Sky"), Diane Ladd ("Primary Colors"), Kelly
Preston ("For Love of the Game") and Andy Griffith (TV's
"Matlock") co-star.
Geyer Kosinski,
Larry Meistrich
("The Bumblebee
Flies Anyway") and
Robert Salerno produce.
(Miramax,
12/23 NY/LA)
Exploitips:
while
Inspired
shooting "Pushing
Tin, " Thornton
finished this script
in time to slip it in
before he started
production on
"All the Pretty
Horses, " starring
Matt Damon. At
under $5 million,
"Daddy and
Them" was acquired
for distribution
in a negative
pickup deal
by Miramax. Held
from October.
Reindeer Games
John Frankenheimer ("Ronin")
directs this thriller about
an ex-con who gets roped into a
casino heist against his will. Ben
Affleck ("Forces of Nature"),
Gary Sinise ("Snake Eyes") and Charlize Theron ("The Cider
House Rules") star. Ehren Kruger ("Scream 3") scripts; Miramax
co-head Bob Weinstein, Marty Katz and Chris Moore
("American Pie") produce. (Miramax, 1 2/25)
Exploitips: Miramax genre arm Dimension jumped at the
chance to shoot this script, paying Kruger a high six-figure sum
and demanding two more blind scripts from the scribe.
Weinstein, perhaps a little green at his brother Harvey's
"Shakespeare in Love" Oscar, decided to get more hands-on
with this project rather than contributing his usual executive
producing skills.
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