Fincher Boards ‘Lords’ Picture
NEW YORK (Variety) – It could be an endless summer for director David Fincher.
He’s committed to shoot “The Lords of Dogtown,” a film about the surf and skate culture that took root in a blighted area of Venice in the 1970s.
Sony Pictures has acquired the picture, which has a long development history. Fincher’s shingle, Indelible Pictures, set up an earlier version at New Line, where it was to be the directorial debut of Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. At the time, Fincher was on board only as a producer.
The acquisition by Sony puts it in the same family as “Dogtown and Z-Boys,” a documentary directed by Stacy Peralta and released by Sony Pictures Classics in 2001. “Z-Boys” portrayed the Dogtown teenagers, including Peralta, who began skateboarding in empty swimming pools around Los Angeles, inventing the daredevil aerial style that prevails today.
Peralta wrote an earlier draft of Fincher’s picture. Now Roger Avary (“The Rules of Attraction”) is doing a rewrite, which is likely to be Fincher’s next stint in the director’s chair, beginning production in late 2003.
Fincher’s picture will be a coming-of-age story — a departure for the director of gritty thrillers like “The Panic Room” and “Seven.” It’s likely to treat ’70s skateboarding as a cultural movement that helped usher in a revolution in fashion and music.
Fincher is also in line to direct “Mission: Impossible 3” for Paramount, but that’s not likely to start production until 2004.
“Dogtown” is one of several skateboarding projects in development in Hollywood.
Warner Bros. plans to distribute Gaylord Films’ “The Grind” later this year, featuring popular boarder Colin McKay.
Disney is prepping a biopic on skateboarding icon Tony Hawk — a figure considered big enough to also have projects set up around him at Revolution Studios and Universal Pictures.
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