Hughes Intrigue Continues
Michael Fleming, excerpt from "Dish" columnn
HUGHES INTRIGUE CONTINUES: In the
continuing effort to turn Howard Hughes into a
Hollywood biopic, a tantalizing possible teamup
has emerged: Edward Norton as the billionaire
aviator-turned recluse, directed by two-time
Oscar winner Milos Forman, scripted by People
Vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon scribes
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. While
those players have barely met on the project,
they’re all intrigued, Dish hears.
For those keeping score at home, Michael
Mann and Leonardo DiCaprio are aligned with a
Disney project scripted by John Logan; Warren
Beatty has long pined to do a biopic, and Allen
and Albert Hughes set one up with Johnny Depp,
though the latter project is a late scratch. The
project being considered by the Norton team is
based at Arnon Milchan’s New Regency with
Charles Evans Jr. producing and is contingent on
whether the producer formally aligns with Disney
on the Mann-DiCaprio project.
Norton and Forman couldn’t be reached, but
Alexander and Karaszewski acknowledged
they’ve been approached. Aside from just starting
work on a Marx Brothers biopic for Universal and
Jersey, which they will direct, the duo is
understandably wary of entering a competition.
"Ten years ago we would have said how can you
go up against Warren Beatty, and now it’s, how
can you go up against Michael Mann and
Leonardo," said Alexander.
"As writers, the problem is we’d have to spend
the year working hard before finding out the
project across the street has gotten a greenlight
and we’ve wasted our time. With both Andy
Kaufman and Larry Flynt, we knew we were the
only ones," added Karaszewski.
Flatbroke additional note
One note I thought I'd mention is that the article talks about Leonardo Di Caprio as part of another
planned HH bio. Only recently during an publicity interview for his upcoming movie The Beach,
Di Caprio mentioned how much he would like to do the bio on Howard Hughes. This publicity interview
aired a week or less after this column was published, and the timing immediately struck me as interesting.
My first thought was that it was his way of showing his commitment to the HH project in response to the
news of a Norton project on HH (previously, Di Caprio has shown interest in projects only to later back out -
Norton's big break in Primal Fear came when Di Caprio backed out of the role). But as I later started to
think about it, I don't know when the interview was actually taped so it may have been just him talking of future
projects. Truthfully, up until this Dish column, I didn't know anything about Di Caprio and a HH project
so it would be speculation on my part that Di Caprio would
mention the HH project with ulterior motives. However, I felt that it was important to point out the timing
just to show that if Norton is interested in an HH project, he will have some active competition by Di Caprio.
So what will come of it, I don't know.
If you have new information on Edward Norton (and you can provide a
verifiable and reputable source), please email me-
Susan
Note: Articles and images have been posted without permission for noncommercial and nonprofit use
with no intention of copyright infringement. The purpose of this reprinting is to disseminate correct information about the
actors, films, and studios. I have included author names and links to sources whenever possible.
Graphics courtesy of Hee Yun's Graphic Collection