By Ryan Parsons | Image property of respective holders, Variety.
Michael Mann
Sometimes Hollywood just can't help itself. When we had Armageddon we also had Deep Impact. When we had Tombstone we also had Wyatt Earp. Each time one film was significantly better than the other, though the story felt all too similar (same).
One group gets the idea, another group, ack, studio borrows the idea. At the end of last week Warner Bros announced that they were going to make a film on the late KBG agent Alexander Litvinenko based off of the unpublished book "Sasha's Story: The Life and Death of a Russian Spy". Not wanting to get left behind, Columbia Pictures is ready to tell their own story... on the same spy.
Columbia Pictures, Michael Mann Feeling Dissident
Look out Warner Bros, there is another unpublished and unfinished book based on the life and death of KGB agent Alexander "Sasha" Litvinenko. Titled "Death of a Dissident," the book is being co-written by Alex Goldfarb and the subject's widow, Marino Litvinenko. Columbia Pictures and Michael Mann have made the first move (on this project) by paying $500,000 against $1.5 million early Friday.
Wait a sec, then which studio really got their announcement off first? Eh, a debate for another day.
Universal Pictures, Paramount and even Warner Bros. also placed bids on "Death of a Dissident". Warner Bros, in an effort to keep the story of the KGB agent entirely under their control, offered to match Columbia's winning bid but walked away empty-handed.
"Death of a Dissident" will explore the collision between the Russian power structure enforced by the KGB and its successor, the FSB, and the new wave of Wild West capitalism that came on the heels of glasnost; Litvinenko got caught between those two colossal forces. From his deathbed, he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime for his poisoning with the heavy metal polonium-210.
Columbia Pictures has direct access to first-hand information from Marino Litvinenko, something they now have life rights on. The studio has placed this project on the fast-track.
Michael Mann is pleased, since he is still doing all he can to help us forget about Miami Vice.
Add to Heffee!
