Saturn Films Archived News

SATURN FILMS - ARCHIVED NEWS

"Virtual producers" can take a meeting with "Vampire"
Cage's Saturn rings up deal with Intermedia
Film Review "Shadow of the Vampire"
Mandalay game for Murray pic
Col Pix buys Franklin pitch for Murray, Cage
Cage's Saturn links to "Chain"
Lions Gate stakes out Cage pic
AFM briefs
Lions Gate and Saturn get bite from Vampire
Out of Cage and into "Shadows"
Pic pitch plays at Propaganda
WB gets "Life" for Cage & co.
WWII POW's tale to be U pic for Cage
Cage aches for "Heartbreaker"

RECENT NEWS

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The Hollywood Reporter.com - October 3, 2000

"Virtual producers" can take a meeting with "Vampire"

Lions Gate, HSX trade investment for credit

By Paul Bond

The latest attempt to use the Internet to market a major theatrical film involves selling screen credits on DVDs for up to $50 a pop.

Lions Gate Films said Monday that it had teamed with online company Hollywood Stock Exchange to recruit "Virtual Producers" for "Shadow of the Vampire," the first movie from Nicolas Cage's Saturn Films.

The idea is to allow the online community to follow a movie via the Internet through the various stages of its production and marketing campaign and to allow that community to suggest ways of improvement.

Those who participate get a screen credit, but they first up: $10 for associate virtual producer or $50 for executive virtual producer.

But they not only get a credit, they also get a piece of the action. If the movie grosses $10 million domestically, the virtual producers split $150,000; if it grosses $15 million, they split $300,000; and if it grosses $20 million domestically, they split $500,000.

In the case of "vampire" however, the movie is complete, so the virtual producers will offer suggestions not on the movie but on the making of a special feature on the DVD.

Participants will go through the same motions they would have if the virtual producer program had started before the film's production, using scouting photos, production skills, costume sketches, documents and other items that were saved during the production process.

In the future, though, virtual producers will get information online in a more timely manner, and their suggestions about various elements of the movie will be taken seriously, Hollywood Stock Exchange executive vp Douglas Scott said.

"We don't believe we'll ever be in total sync with the production, but there will be specific points within the production where virtual producers will have input," Scott said.

But rgardless of how much input the virtual producers have, their credits will appear only on the DVD versions of the movies.

Money collected from virtual producer subscription fees are split between Hollywood Stock Exchange and Lions Gate. Hollywood Stock Exchange takes a fee for managing the Web site, www.virtualproducer.com, while Lions Gate picks up the tab for bonuses paid to the virtual producer.

The idea is not to generate revenue $10 or $50 at a time from frustrated filmmakers, but to try to repeat the vaunted success of the online marketing strategy for "The Blair Witch Project."

"It's all about creating a buzz in the market place," Scott said.

The gimmick is similar in nature to the "Who wants to Be a Movie Star" campaign from WMA, Yahoo! Auctions and Blockbuster whereby acting jobs were to be auctioned to the highest bidders. That campaign took a detour when the California Labor Commissioner's Office informed the parties that it is illegal to charge for jobs, Organizers quickly changed the rules so that third parties could bid on roles for friends or family members but not for themselves (HR 6/29).

Scott said the virtual producer program will prompt no such controversy. "We dealt with all the unions and guilds and their bylaws," he said.

Nevertheless, as with actors, it's a violation of Labor Laws to require payment for the privilege of producing a movie, Department of industrial Relations spokesman Richard Stephens said.

And, he said "If you are going to act as a talent agency, you must be in compliance with California laws—the main thing being you have to have a licensee from the state of labor Commissioner's Office."

But said Scott, "We're not procuring jobs for people; they're subscribing to entertainment."

Scott said he expects 5,000-15,000 people to participate as virtual producers for "Vampire." Assuming 15,000 virtual producers and a maximum payout of $5000,000, each virtual producer will be paid about $33.

Hollywood Stock Exchange is also negotiation with other studios, he said, and expects to run about a dozen virtual producers campaigns each year.

The Hollywood Stock Exchange is an online game that allows users to buy and sell faux securities based on the popularity of movies. The partnership with Lions gate marks the second time the two are offering real cash to Internet users based on the performance of a movie. In April, the partners offered $20,000 to Hollywood Stock Exchange members if "American Psycho" grossed more than #20 million during its first four weeks, which it didn't.

"It's new, and it's fresh, "Vampire" associate producer Orian Williams said" "The whole informal, virtual producer thing gives fans a chance to participate and get names on the screen. It's so hard to break into movies nowadays. I definitely would have done this if I were still in that position.

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The Hollywood Reporter.com - August 24, 2000

Cage's Saturn rings up a deal with Intermedia

By Stuart Kemp

London – Saturn Films, Nicolas Cage's production outfit, is in the process of signing an exclusive, two-year first-look deal with Intermedia to produce at least two films a year with budgets between $30 million - $60 million each.

The deal with Cage's previously independent production banner was announced for regulatory reasons to the German Stock exchange the Neuer Markt. The pact aims to finance the development of several projects, some of which are expected to star Cage. In exchange, Intermedia will handle worldwide distribution and executive produce all Saturn Films under the deal.

Saturn had produced one film, "Shadow of the Vampire," being released by Lions Gate this year. Saturn will also produce "Press Your Luck" with Stanley Brooks' Once Upon a Time Films for Mandalay Entertainment.

Saturn's senior executive is vp creative affairs Norm Golightly, who will produce under the banner. Cage's producing partner Jeff Levine, who founded the company with Cage, recently exited the company.

For Intermedia the Saturn pact is the latest in a string of production deals with suppliers including Reese Witherspoon's unnamed production company, Kate Winslet and husband Jim Threapleton's Telltale Films, Ruth Jackson's West Eleven Films, Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella's Mirage Enterprises, Kenneth Branagh's the Shakespeare Film Co., Tony Scott and Ridley Scott's Scott Free Prods., Cary Brokaw's Avenue Pictures, Sean Connery's Fountainbridge Films, Ryan Philippe's Lucid Film and Archer Street Prods., whose principals are Anand Tucker, Andy Patterson and Frank Cottrell Boyce.

Cage said in the statement for the German stock exchange that Intermedia "has not lost sight of their desire to make quality films despite their substantial financial resources. They are very talent-friendly and Norm and I are very excited about developing and packaging a wide range of material in conjunction with them.

Cage is repped by CAA.

"Nicolas is an enormously talented actor whose career has spanned the spectrum, Inermedia co-chairman Nigel Sinclair said. "We feel fortunate to be able to participate in building Saturn as a great production company, and we look forward to being in business with Nicolas and Norm for many years."

International Media AG, the new holding company grouping Intermedia and Moritz Bormann's Pacifica Entertainment, launched its planned initial public offering on Frankfurts Neuer Markt. The placing raised the company a $250 million war chest.

Beth Laski in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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The Hollywood Reporter.com - September 11, 2000

Film Review "Shadow of the Vampire"

By Kirk Honeycutt

Toronto - - 'Shadow of the Vampire" rummages through a dark and hallowed portion of early silent-movie history to create fanciful concoction certain to lease cinema buffs and lovers of Vampire lore. Bravura, all-out performances by John Malkovich as brilliant German film director F.W. Muranau and Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck, a nearly unknown actor who played the titled role in Murnau's legendary vampire movie "Nosferatu" in 1922, spice up a savory cinematic stew that is alternately funny, clever and a touch perverse.

Credit screenwriter Steven Katz with a dazzling premise. He imagines that when Murnau made "Nosferatu," he hired a real vampire to play the lead. He passes off this "Max Schrek" as a Stanislavsky-trained actor whose unusual acting methods demand that he show up on the set in full costume and makeup and work only at night.

Murnau entices this undead "actor" to star in his movie by offering the beautiful neck of its leading lady (Catherine McCormack) – but only if he controls his thirst until the final shot. That urge, however, is not easily controlled.

The twist sets off all kinds of reverberations about the price one is willing to pay for ones art, to say nothing of the degree to which a filmmaker can be mistaken for a monster. "You and I are not so different," the vampire tells the director at one point. Indeed.

Director E. Elias Merhige, remembered for his experimental student film "Begotten" from 1991, carefully studied Murnau's classic movie and neatly replicated the sets and locales while shooting in Luxembourg. The film never strays far from the set itself. Consequently, "Shadow" is something of a documentary on the days when cameras were cranked by hand.

The film had a delicious sense of humor that understands that the horror in "Nosferatu" is also quite ludicrous. (Nothing dates faster than horror movie conventions.) Dafoe develops a bit as his skeletal Max Schrek habitually clicks together his hideously long fingernails whenever he grows inpatient or thirsty – or both.

When Max – his thirst unslaked – suggests cast and crew members he could eliminate without damaging the film, he includes the screenwriter.

This elicits Murnau's line, "I am loath to admit it myself, but the writer is necessary." (Wouldn't you love to hear the reaction to that line at a Writers Guild of America screening?)

"Shadow" is one of those movies in which the actors appear to be having great fun. Udo Kier puts sweaty anxiety into his role as put –upon producer Albin Grau, and Cary Elwes revels in self confidence as flamboyant cameraman Fritz Wagner.

John Aden Gillet brings aristocratic impudence to the writer, Henrick Galeen. McCormack is the temperamental, morphine-addicted stage actress distressed at even being on a movie set, and Eddie Izzard is quite good at playing the role of a man who can barely act.

The technical credits are half of what makes this movie fun, as the on-set mayhem, film-within-a-film sequences (shot in black and white) and clips from the original film itself are superbly blended.

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Variety.com - August 18, 2000

MANDALAY GAME FOR MURRAY PIC

"Luck" based on winningest quizzer contestant

By MICHAEL FLEMING

New York – Mandalay has offered a lifeline to the gameshow comedy "Press Your Luck" and it's near a deal to put the film into production by year's end with Bill Murray starring and Howard Franklin directing his own script.

Nicolas Cages' Saturn Films and Stanley Brooks' Once Upon a Time Films are producing the pic.

Script is based on the true story of Michael Larsen, who, after becoming a victim of the corporate downsizing of the early 80s and losing his job as an ice cream truckdriver in Lebanon, Ohio, got hooked on watching the daytime gameshow "Press Your Luck." Eventually he learned that one could memorize the 1,300 patterns on the prize board that determine whether a contestant racked up a lot of money or was eliminated by drawing a "whammy." Larsen got on the show and wound up becoming the top winning contestant of a daytime show, raking in more than 100,000 to be disbelief of the producers and host.

Project was originally bought and developed by Columbia from a pitch (Daily Variety, Feb 28). Brooks and Cage will produce the film, with Scott Anderson and Norm Golightly exec producing. Despite the current gameshow fixation, Col put the film in turnaround and five suitors bid.

Mandalay got the upper hand and will distribute through its output deal at Paramount.

Franklin, who previously directed Murray in "Quick Change," is repped by APA's David Saunders and managed by Industry Entertainment's Rosalie Swedlin. Murray is repped by CAA.

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Variety.com - February 26, 2000

COL PIX BUYS FRANKLIN PITCH FOR MURRAY, CAGE

Once Upon a Time, Saturn to produce

By CHARLES LYONS, CLAUDE BRODESSER

Columbia Pictures has scooped up an untitled pitch by Howard Franklin for high six figures, with Nicolas Cage producing and Bill Murray attached to star.

Once Upon a Time Films veep Scott Anderson originally brought the idea to Cage and Jeff Levine's Saturn Films. Anderson, along with Saturn veep of creative affairs Norm Golightly, got the ball rolling at Columbia, Col exec veep of production Michael Costigan will oversee the project.

Saturn and Once Upon a Time Films will produce the project together with Levine and Once Upon a Time Stanley M. Brooks joining Cage to produce. Golightly and Anderson will serve as exec producers.

Story centers on a down-on-his luck gentleman who invests his time figuring out how to win on a popular game show.

Franklin penned "Antitrust," starring Ryan Philippe and Rachael Leigh Cook. Pic's in production at MGM with Peter Howitt ("Sliding Doors") at the helm. Franklin also wrote and directed "Quick Change," starring Murray; penned the thriller "Someone to Watch Over Me"; and wrote and directed "The Public Eye," starring Joe Pesci.

Franklin is repped by David Saunders and Jewerl Ross at APA and managed by Rosalie Swedlin at Industry Entertainment. Murray and Cage are repped by CAA.

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Variety.com - November 10, 1999

CAGE'S SATURN LINKS TO "CHAIN"

Drama to mark Rice's helming bow

By CHARLES LYONS

Nicolas Cage's Saturn Films has optioned tyro scribes Greg Small and Rchard Blaney's spec script "Chain."

John Rice will make his directorial debut with the pic, which will be produced by Cage and Jeff Levine. Exec producers are Paul Brooks and Norm Golightly.

The project was brought to Saturn by Golightly, the company's veep of creative affairs.

The script is described as an edgy drama set in contemporary America, but in the vein of Clint Eastwood "High Plains Drifter."

Helmer Rice co-wrote "Windtalkers" with Joe Batteer. That pic will be directed by John Woo and produced by Woo, Terence Chang, Alison Rosenzweig and Tracie Graham. (Cage is in talks to star in that film.) Rice and Batteer also co-wrote "Blown Away."

Small and Blaney's deal was negotiated by StevenEspinoza of Greenberg, Glusker, Fileds, Claman, Machtinger. They are managed by Alison.

Rice's pact was negotiated by Sandra Lucchessi at the Gersh Agency.

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Variety.com - September 14, 1999

LIONS GATE STAKES OUT CAGE PIC

Malkovich, Dafoe, toplining

By BENEDICT CARVER

Toronto – Lions Gate Films has picked up North American distribution to Nicolas Cage's producing debut, the supernatural thriller "Shadow of the Vampire."

Pic, which stars John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe, is a fictionalized account of acclaimed director F.W. Murmau's making of "Nosferatu," the first, and possibly most acclaimed, adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula."

Malkovich plays the enigmatic Murnau, who is prepared to test society's limits in his quest for authenticity. Dafoe is Max Schrek, the actor who played Nosferatu in Murnau's film.

Elias Merhige is helming the pic, which also stars Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard and Catherine McCormack. Cage and his partner Jeff Levine are producing through their Saturn Films banner. Steven Katz wrote the screenplay.

Saturn had previously pacted with Lions Gate Films Intl. to handle foreign sales on the pic, which shot in Luxembourg last Spring and is co-financed with Metrodome Films and the BBC in the U.K. That gave Lions Gate's Tom Ortenberg and Mark Urman a chance to get an early look at the project, which is currently in post-production.

Negotiations with Saturn repped by CAA, were finalized in Toronto over the weekend.

Cage last starred in Joel Schumacher's "8MM" for Columbia Pictures. He next appears in "Bringing Out the Dead" for director Martin Scorsese and Paramount Pictures. He and Levine founded Saturn 21/2 years ago.

Among Lions Gate's forthcoming releases is Kevin Smith's "Dogma," starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

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Daily Variety - March 3, 1999

AFM Briefs

Lions Gate Intl. announced the following all-rights deals for "Shadow of the Vampire," the first film of the recently unveiled three-picture deal with Nicolas Cage and Jeff Levine's Saturn Films.

"Vampire" has been picked up by BAC (France), Filmax (Spain), Nordisk (Scandinavia), NuVision (Latin America), Belga (Benelux), Aqua Pinema (Turkey), Falcon (Middle-East), Blitz (ex-Yugoslavian countries), and the previously announced BBC, which will also co-produce.

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Hollywood Reporter - March 1, 1999

Lions Gate and Saturn get bite from 'Vampire'

By Dana Harris

The Nicolas Cage-produced "Shadow of the Vampire," starring John Malkovich, has foreshadowed a three-picture deal for international sales between Cage and Jeff Levine's Saturn Films and Lions Gate Films International.

Saturn will retain North American rights to me $10 million "Vampire," which was financed by the Lewis Horwitz Organization and co-produced by London-based BBC Films. The second film in the deal is "Heartbreaker, Inc." a dark romantic comedy about a secret world in which men plot to break the hearts of the women who left them. Paramount Classics is in advanced talks to take domestic distribution.

"Heartbreaker" was written by Dan Cohn and Jeremy Miller from a story by Cage, Cohn and Miller. "Shadow" and "Heartbreaker" will be executive produced by Paul Brooks.

Saturn is also in talks to develop a long-term relationship with BBC Films, which holds U.K. rights on "Shadow." Directed by Elias Merhige, production on "Shadow" is set to begin April 18 in Luxembourg.

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Variety.com - February 23, 1999

OUT OF CAGE AND INTO "SHADOWS"

Malkovich toplining

By CHRIS PETRIKIN, BILL HIGGINS

After securing his place as a Hollywood star, Nicolas Cage is moving into indie production. Cage's Saturn Films banner will make its producing debut on "Shadow of the Vampire," in which John Malkovich is set to star.

Cage is producing the $10 million pic along with partner Jeff Levine. Paul Brooks, co-founder of Brit production/ distribution banner Metrodome will exec produce.

BBC Films is on board as co-producer and will hold the U.K. rights to the film. BBC controller of program acquisitions Alan Howden may also receive a producing credit on the film.

Lions Gate Films Intl. is handling sales for all other international territories; Saturn retains domestic rights.

Merhige to helm

Elias Merhige ("Begotten") will direct the pic, written by Steven Katz, who had penned such screenplays as Par's "American Gothic" and "Morningside Heights" and Fox/Lightstorm's "The Mummy: Ramses the Damned."

Based on Katz's original idea "Shadow" takes a fictionalized look at the making of "Nosferatu," F.W. Murnau's 1922 film adaptation of Dracula.

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Variety.com - June 15, 1998

PIC PITCH PLAYS AT PROPAGANDA

Cage jumps on board as producer, possible star

By NICK MADIGAN

A feverish 24-jours of high stakes bidding by several Hollywood studios culminated Friday in Propaganda Films' purchase of an untitled Charlie Kaufman pitch for low seven figures.

The interest was such that Nicolas Cage's Saturn Films came in as a producer of the possible vehicle for Cage, his agency, CAA, confirmed that he was attached.

Kaufman, who penned Propaganda's "Being John Malkovich," which shoots next month, set his latest story around a couple with problems who come across a service that erases choice portions on one's memory. The woman, tired of their contentious romance, obliterates her entire recollection of him; he eventually follows, so that they each end up not knowing the other. Then, with shades of "Groundhog Day," meet again and, inevitably, start over.

Kaufman also wrote "Scanner Darkly," for Jersey Films and Universal, and the adaptation of Chuck Barris' autobiography "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," in development at Warner Bros.

As many as nine studios and production houses, including WB, Paramount, New Line and Fox, were said to be interested in the "Memory" pitch, with one major studio authorized to bid $5000,000 and another $750,000. It didn't take long for the sum to reach seven figures, a heady number for a pitch.

Michel Gondry, who directs commercials and videos for Propaganda, will helm, with his production company, Partisan Films, in as a producer. His deal was cut by United Talent Agency and his lawyer, Robert Offer.

Kaufman is repped by UTA and attorney Ken Richman.

At Propaganda, the main dealmaker exec was VP Paul Green. Execs on the picture are Propaganda chairman Steve Golin, senior motion pix veep Elizabeth Lane and Guymon Casady, senior VP of production, who brought the project in.

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Variety.com - January 8, 1998

WB GETS "LIFE" FOR CAGE & CO.

Noirish script penned by philosophy prof

By VARITY STAFF

EXCLUSIVE
Nicolas may end up on death row at Warner Bros., following the studio's purchase of a pitch for a prison thriller about capital punishment that is being set up under the Oscar winning actor's Saturn Films production banner.

Cage and Saturn co-topper Jeff Levine will producer the noirish project currently titled "The Life of David Gale." The project may serve as a starring vehicle for Cage.

The pitch came from an original idea created by Vienna, Austria-based philosophy professor Charles Randolph, who has been hired to pen the screenplay as well.

The story is described as a politically charged dramatic thriller set in present-day Texas and centering on a young philosophy professor who has vehemently lobbied against the death penalty. The story unfolds a la "dead man walking" as the professor recounts his plight to a journalist from his seat on death row, where he has been sentenced for the brutal rape and murder of one of his anti-death-penalty activist colleagues.

Saturn development exec Norm Golightly is credited with bringing in the pitch, after he had read Randolph's comedic screenplay "Fat," which is being developed and produced by Addis-Wechsler and Associates.

The son of missionaries, Randolph is an American expat from Texas, who teaches aesthetic philosophy in the U. of Vienna system. He has also written, directed and produced several film shorts in Europe.

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Variety.com - April 13, 1998

WWII POW'S TALE TO BE U PIC FOR CAGE

Veteran's real-life adventures headed for screen

By DAN COX

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.

The stranger-than-fiction story follows Zamperini's path from his earliest days as a track star in Torrance, and at USC, his appearance in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, to an Air Force stint during World War II. When his plane crashed in the Pacific, he and other 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. throughout his 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, who now lives in Hollywood, managed to forgive his captors but never saw them again.

In 1998, he was invited to carry a torch for the U.S. in the Nagano Olympics. Zamperini discovered that "The Bird" was still alive but an attempted reconciliation was nixed by Watanabe's family.

U optioned an autobiography from Zamperini in 1956 with the intention of Tony Curtis starring, but the pic was never made.

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 U.

As it turned out U still has the rights to the autobio. So the studio set up a six-figure deal for Zamerini 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."

Cage's Saturn Film's partner Jeff Levine, along with Zamperini's son-in-law Mick Garris, will also be producers.

At BGE co-president of production Matthew Baer will oversee the pic.

Universal exec VP Kevin Misher will handle the studio's interest.

CAA and manager Gerry Harrington repped Cage in the deal.

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The Hollywood Reporter.com - January 13, 1997

Cage aches for "Heartbreaker"

By Cathy Dunkley

Nicolas Cage is attached to star in "Heartbreaker Inc." a project penned by 24-year-old writers Jeremy Miller and Dan Cohn for Touchtone Pictures.

"Heartbreaker." Based on an idea developed by Cage and his partner Jeff Levine, was sold as a pitch to Touchstone Pictures by Miller and Cohn.

Cage and Levine will produce their film through their company, Saturn Films. It is the story of a professional heartbreaker hired by rejected man to turn the tables on women who have dumped them. He then comes up against a contract he can't fulfill when he meets and falls for the perfect woman.

Levine, Touchstone's senior vp Todd Garner and company president Donald DeLine brokered the deal with Miller and Cohn's agent Ross Fineman at Major Clients Agency.

"Heartbreaker" is one of three projects Miller and Cohn set up on the back of the sale of their spec script "Saving Grace" to Cinema Line Films, which has a first-look deal with Columbia Pictures.

Miller and Cohn have also secured a blind script commitment from Touchstone for a project to be developed with producers Meyer/Shyer. DeLine, Touchstone's senior vp Alex Schwartz and exec Christy Callahan brokered the deal with Fineman.

The writing team has also been hired to adapt a project for Disney entitled "Gen 13." The project, based on a popular sci-fi comic book is described, as MTV's "The Real World" meets "The Fugitive." The project may be a major summer release for the studio that is developing it as a possible franchise property. Disney exec Jeff Bynum and vp production Allison Brecker are shepherding the project with Disney president David Vogul.

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