Genre: Biography.
Studio:
Universal Pictures.
Production Company:
Brillstein-Grey/Saturn Films.
Project Phase: Script Stage.
Who's In It:
Nicolas Cage (Lou Zamperini, attached).
Who's Making It: Nicolas Cage, Jeff Levine, Mick Garris (Producers).
Premise: The picture would follow Zamperini from his earliest days as a track star in Torrance, CA to his attendance at USC, then his appearance in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, to his Air Force stint during World War II. When Zamperini's plane crashed in the Pacific, he and another soldier were adrift without food and water for 47 days only to land on a Japanese island. There they were held captive for two years by Japanese sergeant Matsuhiro Watanabe, a vicious guard nicknamed "The Bird" who tortured the G.I.s throughout their internment. After the war, Watanabe avoided prosecution as a war criminal by hiding out in the remote mountains near Nagano until the statute of limitations ran out. Coming home to the U.S. after the war, Zamperini managed to forgive his captors.
In 1998, he was invited to carry a torch for the U.S. in the Nagano Olympics. There, Zamperini discovered that The Bird was still alive but an attempted reconciliation was nixed by Watanabe's family.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Unknown.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
[Page draft submitted by 'Deadpool'.]
1956... Universal optioned an autobiography from Lou Zamperini with the intention of Tony Curtis starring in the movie adaptation. [Scoop provided by 'GrandpaDeadpool'.]
April 13,1998... Daily Variety reports that after a 40-year wait, Universal Pictures has finally set up a film based on the remarkable, adventurous life of Lou Zamperini with Nicolas Cage attached to star and produce along with Brillstein-Grey. A CBS feature about Zamperini's World War II POW ordeal, which ran during the Winter Olympics in Japan this February, resurrected interest in Zamperini from Brillstein-Grey, which has a deal at the studio. As it turned out, Universal still had the rights to the autobiography. So the studio set up a six-figure deal for Zamperini and his life rights through CAA agent Jon Levin.
BGE partner Brad Grey called the project an "embarrassment of riches" in subject matter. The project, which does not have a writer yet, will be developed and written with Cage in mind. "This is a story that we're passionate about," he said. "Our goal is to support Nicolas Cage with an extraordinary writer who can do justice to Lou Zamperini's incredible journey." [Scoop provided by 'Deadpool'.]
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