NEW
YORK -- After ABC's "Life With Judy Garland: Me and
My Shadows" weighed in as the season's top-rated
miniseries, the network is moving fast with two
more films on Hollywood icons.
ABC is developing a
film about the life of screen vamp Mae West as a
vehicle for Dolly Parton, and the network just
closed a deal to partner with Mandalay Television
Pictures on a film about the lives of Bud Abbott
and Lou Costello. Both projects are going forward
under the auspices of movies and minis head Susan
Lyne.
On the latter project,
ABC just closed a deal that includes life rights to
both members of the famed comedy team who split
acrimoniously after being joined at the hip in
vaudeville, movies and television. They didn't
speak for most of their later years, until a
tearful reunion on a segment of "This Is Your Life"
that aired shortly before Costello died. Deal is
considered a coup because the estates of both
comics rebuffed frequent attempts over the years to
assign life rights.
With rights part of
the deal, the ABC telepic will be able to replicate
Abbott and Costello routines, including the "Who's
on First" routine that is so famous, it's included
in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The network has hired
Stan Chervin to write the script, and the
project is being shepherded for the network by
Heather Kadin. Chervin most recently wrote the
Warner Bros. projects "Around the World in 80 Days"
and "Moe Berg: The Catcher Was A Spy," a biopic to
which George Clooney is attached as star and
producer. The exec producers of "Abbott and
Costello" are Elizabeth Stephen, George Paige and
Tim Stephen.
The Mae West film also
is in development, but the network is squarely
aiming to land thrush Parton, who has long pined to
play West, the sex goddess who gravitated from
vaudeville to the bigscreen, pushing the envelope
of screen sexuality during the 1930s. Project is
being steered by ABC's Quinn Taylor.
While commercial
feature busts such as the Frankie Lymon film "Why
Do Fools Fall in Love" have made feature biopics a
seriously tough gambit, TV has fared better. Recent
ratings successes include ABC's "Beach Boys," "The
Three Stooges" (this columnist wrote the book on
which it was based and was a consultant) and
"Audrey Hepburn," as well as NBC's "The
Temptations" and HBO's "Introducing Dorothy
Dandridge." The appeal is that the films can be
done comparatively cheaply and quickly, and often
draw marquee talent. ABC's courtship of Parton is
an example, and CBS is looking for a star to
topline its Groucho Marx biopic as well.
