Hollywood sometimes creates strange bedfellows and the latest surprising partnership has Harvey Weinstein teaming up with Disney to bring Artemis Fowl to the big screen. The partnership will even count actor Robert De Niro as a co-executive producer on the project.
Weinstein has been hoping to bring Eoin Colfer’s worldwide bestsellers to the big screen since 2001, when Miramax owned the screen rights and assigned several writers and directors to work on the script. However, nothing came of it and Disney earned the rights after Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein left in 2005, since it still owned Miramax at the time.
“If you would have told me five years ago I would be producing a project with Disney I would have thought you were crazy,” Weinstein said in a statement Monday, notes The Hollywood Reporter. “I feel as though everything is coming full circle considering Bob De Niro and [executive producer] Jane Rosenthal brought me this book while I was still at Miramax and within hours I told them I wanted the rights to the film.”
The new draft will be written by Michael Goldenberg, who has some experience adapting children’s books. He wrote the script to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which is considered one of the best Harry Potter films. Coincidentally, Alan Horn, who was the president of Warner Bros. when that film was made, is now leading Disney Studios.
“Harvey is one of the preeminent producers in the industry, with impeccable taste and creative instincts,” Horn said in a statement, reports Entertainment Weekly. “I had a wonderful time working with Harvey during my tenure at Warner Bros., and I’m very happy to continue that relationship here at Disney.”
“This is a special project for me because my children absolutely love this book. This story is for everyone and there is no one better than Disney to make a film that will excite people young and old,” Weinstein added.
Fowl centers on a 12-year-old millionaire who is also a criminal mastermind. He comes up against his greatest challenge when he meets a dangerous fairy in the hopes to save his family. The movie will be based on the first two books in the series.
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