New url for Peach Buzz
Bookmark this new url for Peach Buzz.. We have moved to Wordpress!
Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > January > 25 > Entry
Clarkston’s soccer dispute heads for film
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The announcement issued Thursday by Hollywood trade paper Variety probably won’t increase tourism in Clarkston.
Universal Pictures has netted the rights to make a big-screen version of a story in last Sunday’s New York Times. The lengthy article by Warren St. John chronicled the struggles of the Fugees, a youth soccer club made up of international refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, Burundi, Congo, Liberia, Somalia and Sudan, who now live in Clarkston.
Universal shelled out “$2 million against $3 million for the rights” to the St. John article, according to the trade bible. St. John is also set to turn the story into a book. And the studio snapped up the life rights to the team’s coach, Luma Mufleh.
Placed by resettlement agencies, the boys were banned from playing on a grassy field in the local town park. Last summer, Clarkston Mayor Lee Swaney famously fanned the flames of controversy when he told the AJC: “There will be nothing but baseball and football down there as long as I am mayor.”
If Universal has its Hollywood way, however, the future could be looking less muddy for the 9- to 17-year-old players. As part of the movie deal, the studio has agreed to finance a new soccer field for the players via a $500,000 check.
According to Variety, a bidding war erupted this week on the Left Coast over the story. Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks and Disney vied for the rights before Universal emerged the winner.
Since the film is at least two years away from hitting your local megaplex, Clarkston’s Swaney and any longtime residents resistant to multicultural change, who will inevitably be cast as the villains of the piece, still have time to change the current town slogan: “Clarkston: Small Town, Big Heart.”
A call placed to Clarkston City Hall seeking comment from Swaney was not immediately returned. Buzz was told a news release will be forthcoming, however.
Battle of the briefings?
Flipping through the press kit for this Saturday’s Honda Battle of the Bands (which showcases the best marching bands at the nation’s historically black colleges and universities) at the Georgia Dome downtown, we came upon a curious event.
At 2 p.m., an “African-American Press Briefing” is scheduled. And it’s the only press briefing listed. We rang up the event’s media rep Ronald Childs for details.
“Nobody is being excluded,” Childs explained. “Since the event now attracts press attention from the BBC, NPR, The New York Times and other big media outlets, we just wanted to do something special for media representatives from smaller presses and the college publications. But anyone can attend, I want to make that clear.”
Five-year extension for ‘Bert Show’ star
Bert Weiss, the head of “The Bert Show” on Q100, has agreed to a new five-year deal that will keep him on the station into 2012, according to John Dickey, executive vice president at Atlanta-based Cumulus Broadcasting, which owns the top 40 station.
Management “made an extremely compelling offer for him to stay with the company,” said Weiss’ agent, Bob Eatman. (Weiss is on vacation and couldn’t be reached for comment.)
“The Bert Show,” which has been on Q100 since 2001, regularly outperforms the rest of the station in the ratings and had strong fall numbers, finishing top five in two key demographic groups: 18- to 34-year-olds and 25- to 54-year-olds.
Eatman said Weiss was actively recruited by other radio stations in Atlanta and outside the market. Dickey claims Star 94 chased after Weiss, but Star General Manager Mark Kanov denied that assertion.
The other three core members of “The Bert Show” — Jenn Hobby, Melissa Carter and Jeff Dauler — are under separate contracts.
Sick bay
Actress Nicole Kidman was taken to a hospital Thursday after the Jaguar she was driving crashed during downtown Los Angeles shooting of the science-fiction thriller “The Invasion,” police said.
Kidman was examined at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and released a short time later. She returned to work Thursday.
Kidman plays a psychiatrist who unearths the origin of an alien epidemic, and she was filming a scene depicting an escape from zombielike characters who are on the hood of her car.
Or as Buzz commonly refers to it, Friday night.
Overscene
“Big Brother” reality TV contestant Mike “Boogie” Malin at Cirque du Soleil’s “Corteo” at Atlantic Station being reprimanded by an usher for using his BlackBerry during Wednesday night’s performance. Malin is a co-owner of Dolce, a new Atlantic Station eatery. We’re told that Malin somehow resisted the urge to “CrackBerry” during Act 2.
Celebrity birthdays
Actor Paul Newman is 82. Actor David Strathairn is 58. Singer Lucinda Williams is 54. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen is 52. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres is 49. Guitarist Andrew Ridgeley (Wham!) is 44. Actor Paul Johansson (“One Tree Hill”) is 43. Gospel singer Kirk Franklin is 37. Country guitarist Michael Martin of Marshall Dyllon is 24.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, Elizabeth Cobb and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
Permalink | |
