Will Smith, Sony acquire Katrina story

[Ale]

John Lee Hancock to write and direct feature

By TATIANA SIEGEL

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment are set to dive into the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Studio and shingle have obtained bigscreen life rights to John Keller, an ex-Marine who orchestrated the rescue of 244 of his New Orleans neighbors after their building, the American Can Co., was flooded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The five-story structure sat in 11 feet of water after the breach of the levees.

John Lee Hancock ("The Rookie," "The Alamo") is onboard to write and direct.

In addition to Keller's life rights, Sony acquired Adetoro Makinde's spec script, which chronicles the heroism of Keller and will serve as a starting point for Hancock's draft.

James Lassiter, Smith and Ken Stovitz are producing through their Sony-based Overbrook banner alongside Back Door Films' Makinde.

Nicknamed "The Can Man," Keller has been profiled in several publications. He has said that he was motivated to help not out of any financial gain, nor a desire to be a hero, but a concern for the elderly residents of his building.

Hancock is currently shooting the Sandra Bullock starrer "The Blind Side."

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111800401...yId=13&cs=1

[Radewart]

Looks like Will may also star in this one...

http://www.nola.com/news/?/base/news-1/124....xml&coll=1

Hollywood to tell story of Katrina hero

Will Smith may play ex-Marine who saved lives at American Can

Thursday, May 21, 2009

By Elizabeth Mullener

Staff writer

John Keller, the 6-foot-7-inch ex-Marine who rescued 244 of his neighbors at the American Can Company apartments and emerged as one of the heroes of Hurricane Katrina, will be the subject of a feature film expected to star Will Smith as Keller.

Wednesday's announcement by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Overbrook Entertainment did not include casting, but Overbrook executive Jeff Sommerville confirmed to The Times-Picayune that Smith, the Hollywood box-office titan whose recent credits include "Hancock," "Ali" and "The Pursuit of Happyness," is likely to play Keller. As one of the principal owners of Overbrook, Smith also is co-producing the film.

The movie, now in development, will be written and directed by John Lee Hancock, who directed "The Rookie" and "The Alamo," wrote an original screenplay for Clint Eastwood's "A Perfect World" and adapted "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" for the big screen. Along with Overbrook and Sony, producers include Back Door Films headed by Adetoro Makinde, an independent filmmaker.

"It puts a knot in my throat," the normally sardonic and brash Keller said from his apartment at the American Can Company, where he still lives.

Resourceful in the aftermath of Katrina, when the Mid-City apartment complex took on thigh-deep water and menacing visitors threatened some of the handicapped and elderly people who lived there, Keller used the sheer power of personal authority to face down the crisis and keep the building calm and controlled.

"I was able to affect so many people," he said. "It wasn't just the people I got out of the building but everybody who valued those people, too."

For more than a year and a half, Keller has been flying back and forth from Mid-City to Hollywood, as the movie project was being negotiated. In September 2007, he met with Smith.

"I looked Will Smith in the eye," Keller recalled, "and I said, 'You want to play me in the movies?' He said, 'Yeah. Not only am I going to play you; I'm going to bring it.' "

Sony's announcement did not include a production start date. Sommerville said at least some of the movie will be shot in New Orleans, and Keller said he has been promised a part in it.

"When I came back after Katrina and talked to the old people I had saved, they all said God was going to bless me, I'm going to receive my blessing," Keller said. "Well, I guess this is it."

Edited May 21, 2009 by Radewart

[Typhoon20]

After all the rave reviews & awards his movies have gotten he keeps working with amazing writers, directors...props to him.

Edited May 21, 2009 by Typhoon20

[Turntable]

a pertfect world was a good movie

[bigted]

Sounds like one hell of a concept, looking forward to that, maybe Will could do a "Tell Me Why" type song for the soundtrack

[rcpbball30]

Just came across this on allhiphop.com, sounds like a great idea, here's the article:

Will Smith’s production company has partnered with Sony Pictures Entertainment to bring to life the story of one of the many heroes of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, the two companies announced Wednesday (May 20).

Overbrook Entertainment and Sony have earned the film rights to the story of former Marine John Keller, who rescued nearly 244 of his neighbors in New Orleans in the days that followed one of the largest natural disaster on American soil to date.

Keller, who was nicknamed “The Can Man” by the media, orchestrated the rescue of his elderly neighbors from their apartment building, the American Can Company in New Orleans’ Mid City neighborhood.

Following the levee breach that flooded the city and added to the damage already caused by Hurricane winds, American Can sat in over 11 feet of water.

Keller single-handedly kept his neighbors calm and controlled while helping them exit the building.

While the announcement from Overbrook and Sony did not specify a production start date or casting, The Times-Picayune reports that Overbrook executive Jeff Sommerville has confirmed that Smith is likely to portray the 6’7” Keller himself.

“When I came back after Katrina and talked to the old people I had saved, they all said God was going to bless me, I’m going to receive my blessing” Keller told the Times-Picayune. “Well, I guess this is it. “I wasn’t in it for the money,” he added. “But I was able to affect so many people. It wasn’t just the people I got out of the building but everybody who valued those people too.”

The film will be written and directed by John Lee Hancock, the writer behind the 1997 blockbuster Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

[Ale]

a pertfect world was a good movie

Ditto!

[Jazzy Julie]

Gave me goosebumps just reading about it, i'd like to see this happen.

[Silver Tiger]

I'd like to see Will star in a new album.

[VIsqo]

I'd like to see Will star in a new album.

lol, yeah that!

[TopDawg14]

This is could be interesting if it's done right.

[Ale]

John Lee Hancock on his Will Smith Katrina movie

Hancock's next movie is The American Can, a Will Smith project about one of the heroes of Hurricane Katrina.

"It's a true story about this guy, John Keller, who was at The American Can Company, lower income housing area of New Orleans, an Iraq War vet who found purpose and direction again in his life when the hurricane hit. It became about saving people, and he saved hundreds. It's a very personal story, not particularly political. It's like he's a pair of boots on the ground. 'Here comes the water. What do you do? Do you rise to the occasion, or not?' It's a great someone-you-least-expect becoming a hero story, which is what drew Will to it, and me.

"I've outlined it. And as soon as The Blind Side is out and in theaters, I've got to down to a research trip, walk those streets, meet some people.

"And when we shoot it, we'll shoot it there. You have an obligation to shoot it in New Orleans. This is their story. And we'll find some place with a huge water tank, a big green screen wall behind it, and we'll sink houses that way. It's the only practical way to re-create a hurricane.

Source: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2009/10/john-lee-hancockon-will-smiths-katrina-story-and-talking-sandy-bullock-into-the-blind-side.html

Edited October 29, 2009 by Ale

[Simon Lerkot Berglind]

Hmm, I suspect this is gonna be some kind of buhu story where you are supposed to sit and cry while dramatical music is playing in the background.. and I think that type of movies have lost their edge.. corny.

[Ale]

Will Smith Wants Denzel Washington for His Katrina Drama The American Can

For two years, Will Smith has been trying to bring the Hurricane Katrina drama The American Can to the big screen. Though he was once signed on to produce and possibly star in the film, Vulture now hears that he's taking a strictly behind the scenes position and intends to offer Denzel Washington the lead role.

The script, by The Blind Side writer-director John Lee Hancock (who will also direct Can), follows the real-life harrowing ordeal suffered by the residents of the American Can apartment complex when the levees broke. Trapped by eleven feet of fetid water for two days, an a 6’7” ex-Marine named John Keller stayed behind to ward off looters and help care for the dozens of aged or infirm residents who couldn’t evacuate. After spending two futile days trying to flag down help, Keller ultimately succeeded in getting desperately needed food, water and medical supplies air-dropped onto the complex only after finally moving dozens of aged and infirm -- and notably, white -- residents onto the rooftop of American Can to catch rescuers attention. (Their story was told in the documentary New Orleans: My Home, My Life, My Love.)

Smith had been planning on starring as Keller himself, but his decision to topline M. Night Shyamlan’s One Thousand A.E. (which recently pushed from September to a January 2012 start) meant waiting even longer to tell the tale, and insiders say Smith didn’t want too much time to go by. We’re told Washington, currently filming the Universal spy thriller Safe House, is giving notes, and based on that, Smith and Sony will decide if it's a good match.

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/06/will_smith_denzel_washington_a.html

[Radewart]

So, that means the M. Night movie is his next flick. Uggg! I was hoping it would be him and Denzel in the remake of "Uptown Saturday Night". It wouldn't be as cool as the Tarantino flick, but it be better than a M. Night movie. Hell, I would rather have that floating island movie (City that Sailed) than the M. Night one.