Taylor Hackford

[Myxo]

Didn't see a thread for him here so, here is the latest. Although, I admit I'm not sure if he will even be directing this, but I assume he's part of this "team" they are talking about.

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LOS ANGELES - The makers of the Ray Charles film "Ray" are taking on another story about breaking racial barriers. Baldwin Entertainment Group is producing a film biography of baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson, with an assist from Robert Redford, whose Wildwood Enterprises will co-produce.

Redford, who starred in the 1984 baseball flick "The Natural," also will play Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, who signed Robinson as the first black player in Major League Baseball.

"This will be our next `Ray,'" said producer Howard Baldwin, whose film on Charles earned news the best-actor Academy Award.

"This is one of the most important stories not just in sports, but in our history," Baldwin told The Associated Press on Monday.

Robinson himself starred in 1950's "The Jackie Robinson Story," a dramatization of his entry into baseball.

A fresh big-screen take on Robinson's triumphant career would be good public relations for baseball, now mired in a steroids scandal, Baldwin said.

Robinson's tenacity in the face of bigotry and scorn from fans after he was signed in 1947 also would serve as a lesson to today's petulant athletes, said Baldwin.

"See what Jackie Robinson went through," Baldwin said. "You just have to say, how did this man have enough poise and sophistication and the courage to realize that for the good of mankind, for the good of his race, he had to succeed. And he didn't just succeed. He was a great, great baseball player."

The filmmakers said they will be working closely with executives in Major League Baseball and that the project has the blessing of Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel, and Branch Rickey Jr., son of the Dodgers general manager.

Baldwin said he hoped production would begin early next year, with the film coming out in late 2006 or early 2007. Kirk Ellis, whose credits include scripts for the TV movies "Anne Frank" and "The Beach Boys: An American Family," is writing the screenplay.

Other than Redford, no actors have been cast. Once a script is in hand, Baldwin said he would hope to gauge "Ray" star Foxx's interest.

"At the appropriate time, we'd be nuts not to want to talk to Jamie," Baldwin said.

[soixante]

I think Spike Lee has tried to do a Jackie Robinson film for a long time.  And will Redford ever get around to doing "George Washington?"

[MacGuffin]

I think Spike Lee has tried to do a Jackie Robinson film for a long time.

You can hear the bitterness in Spike's voice when he mentions Redford taking over the Robinson project on his Malcolm X commentary.

[MacGuffin]

Mirren, Pesci open 'Love Ranch'
Hackford to direct drama about legal brothel
Source: Variety

Taylor Hackford will direct Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci in "Love Ranch," a drama about a couple who opened the first legal brothel in Nevada and the violence that resulted when their relationship was tested by infidelity.

Capitol Films will fully finance. Filming begins in late January in Albuquerque, N.M., and Hackford will look for a domestic distributor after the movie is complete. He hopes to have it ready in time to be submitted for the Toronto Film Festival.

Hackford last directed "Ray."

Mark Jacobson, whose New York magazine article formed the basis for "American Gangster," wrote the "Love Ranch" screenplay. Hackford, Lou DiBella, Capitol's David Bergstein and Marty Katz will produce.

Hackford said the drama is inspired by the story of Joe and Sally Conforte, proprietors of the Mustang Ranch, the first legalized house of prostitution in Nevada. Boxer Oscar Bonavena was gunned down at the ranch in 1976, suspected of having an affair with the madam Sally.

Pic will reteam the director with Mirren, his wife, for the first time since they did 1985's "White Nights."

"I've developed this project for a long time, and one of the things that excited me most was the chance to work again with my wife," Hackford said. "I had to beg; she's a very busy girl. We'd wanted to work together for some time, but she wouldn't agree unless it was a great role, and this is a great role."

Hackford was also glad to coax back Pesci, who played a small role in "The Good Shepherd" but hasn't starred in a movie since "Lethal Weapon 4" in 1999.

"Joe didn't have any desire to work, but he was the first person I had in mind to play the husband, this former cab driver who dreamed of making prostitution legal and carved out a tiny county and convinced the local politicians," Hackford said. "He's playing the godfather of legalized prostitution, and it convinced Joe to jump back into the fire."

Hackford is working hard to find an actor to play the boxer, an effort that will be helped by co-producer DiBella, a prominent fight promoter.

Mirren, who recently completed "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," will start "Love Ranch" after she completes the Kevin Macdonald-directed "State of Play," for Universal. Mirren will next be seen in New Line's "Inkheart."

Hackford will complete the movie before making his stage-directing debut on a musical based on the 1992 Steve Martin film "Leap of Faith." That project is aimed to hit Broadway in spring 2009.