Ever since director Rob Marshall's "Chicago" won six Academy Awards earlier this year, Hollywood has been rife with speculation about when the filmmaker will step behind the cameras again. Now Marshall himself is beginning to ask the same question.
For more than a month, Marshall and three studios -- Miramax, Sony and DreamWorks -- have been caught in a battle involving "Memoirs of a Geisha," the long-delayed, much-anticipated adaptation of Arthur S. Golden's bestselling novel. Marshall wants to direct the film as his next movie, but "Chicago" producer Miramax, to whom Marshall owes a film, has not been willing to release the director from that contractual obligation without getting something in return.
The resulting stalemate has left Marshall furious at Miramax, several colleagues say, and stalled production on a film that already has passed through three directors' hands. The skirmish reveals the behind-the-scenes wrangling that happens on many movie deals, and helps explain why it often takes so long to bring even coveted projects to the screen.
That Miramax would clash with Marshall might seem odd since "Chicago" is among the biggest hits in the studio's history, with a worldwide theatrical gross exceeding $300 million. But Miramax has a long -- and, to some rival studios, unpopular -- history of aggressively enforcing its contractual rights. Miramax has an unmatched track record unearthing talented young actors and directors. As part of its deal making, the studio often hires these unknowns on condition they pledge future jobs to Miramax. Such was the case with the 42-year-old Marshall.
The "Geisha" fray is not unlike several other recent skirmishes involving Miramax and options, as these rights are often called. An option Lasse Hallstrom owed Miramax prevented the Swedish filmmaker from directing DreamWorks' "Catch Me If You Can."
Sony's Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks, the two studios co-producing "Geisha," have offered Miramax a variety of inducements to help spring Marshall from his Miramax pact, including, of all things, Sony's U.S. theatrical rights to "Rambo: First Blood Part II." Both sides have discussed if DreamWorks, which is distributing "Geisha" overseas, could give Miramax distribution rights to the film in two major foreign territories. DreamWorks absolved Miramax of an earlier obligation to share the production of a future, unspecified Miramax film.
