Let this be a lesson that even after you are nominated for multiple Oscars and have a big financial success it is difficult to get financing for a film. Lee Daniels is learning this after his Civil Rights drama Selma is struggling to get everything in order. Everyone from Hugh Jackman, Liam Neeson, David Oyelowo, Ray Winstone, Robert De Niro and Cedric the Entertainer have been attached at one point. In the meantime Deadline is reporting that he “has closed a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to rewrite and direct The Butler.”
The project is based on “Eugene Allen…a servant in the White House over 34 years, Allen watched the eight presidents he worked for wrestle with and finally stem the tide of segregation. The film is based on a series of articles written on Butler by Wil Haygood. After Haygood’s first article, the long-retired Allen was invited to be a guest at the inauguration of the country’s first African American president, Barack Obama, bringing his experience full circle.”
Daniels is currently rewriting Danny Strong‘s (Recount) first draft and has even approached Denzel Washington to star. As for Selma, The Weinstein Company has committed to “$8 million in funding for domestic distribution, with Pathe matching that amount and taking foreign.” Skyline Pictures is looking to fill in the rest of the $18 million total budget. remaining funds for a budget that is $18 million, after location rebates.
If Selma doesn’t start production in a week or two, word is that The Butler could start by the end of the year.
Did Precious deserve all of its acclaim? Which project would you like to see Daniels take on?