Stiller, Black in Green with ‘Envy’
Barry Levinson will direct Ben Stiller and Jack Black in “Envy,” a DreamWorks comedy that will start shooting in July.
Stiller and Black will play lifelong best friends and neighbors whose relationship takes a nasty turn when one of them (Black) becomes filthy rich by selling an invention. It drives his pal (Stiller) crazy with jealousy.
The project had been developed by producer Castle Rock Entertainment at Warner Bros. for several years, after “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David set it there as a pitch he hatched with screenwriter Steve Adams.
WB blanched at its $40 million budget and let it go. The price tag includes a salary for Stiller said to be in the range of $10 million, supplemented by a healthy gross profit participation.
DreamWorks stepped up with the money, which was more than a mild surprise given the highly publicized acrimony Levinson had directed at the studio over its handling of “An Everlasting Piece,” the Irish comedy about hairpiece salesman. The film barely registered a blip in the marketplace, and Levinson blamed the studio’s poor marketing. One of the producers, Jerome O’Conner, even sued DreamWorks; the lawsuit was dismissed in court earlier this month.
DreamWorks is apparently looking beyond the dispute and concentrating on the commercial appeal of the dark comedy and its stars. Stiller just completed the Danny DeVito-directed “Duplex” for Miramax opposite Drew Barrymore. He is developing “Starsky and Hutch” at Warner Bros. and is also expected to reprise his “Meet the Parents” role in “Meet the Fockers.” Black was last seen in “Orange County” and “Shallow Hal.”
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