Variety on The Power of Duff - Thanks, Bea

Duo falling on 'Duff': Crowe, Howard team up for 'Power' play -- By MICHAEL FLEMING

Russell Crowe and Ron Howard are circling "The Power of Duff," a Stephen Belber-scripted drama that Universal purchased in a spec sale this month. DreamWorks will be a co-production partner.
Imagine chairman Brian Grazer will produce with Marc Platt, who originally brought in the project.

Negotiations are just getting under way for Crowe to play a TV news anchor whose grief over his father's death prompts him to pray aloud during newscasts. When his prayers begin getting answered, the newsman becomes a most controversial TV figure.

U paid $900,000 against $1.25 million for the script by Belber, who penned the Broadway play "Match" and co-wrote HBO miniseries "The Laramie Project." Platt, whose recent productions include "Legally Blonde" and the Broadway hit musical "Wicked," had been planning to produce with his company prexy, Abby Wolf-Weiss.

Project would be the third teaming for Crowe, Howard and Grazer. They made the Oscar winner "A Beautiful Mind" and have a June 3 opening date for "Cinderella Man," the drama about Depression-era folk hero boxer Jim Braddock.

Timing for "The Power of Duff" isn't clear. While Crowe is available because his film "Eucalyptus" was shelved, Howard and Grazer are booked through the rest of the year with "The Da Vinci Code," which will be released May 19, 2006, by Sony.

Howard won't be available for his next film until 2006. He and Grazer are also developing historical drama "The Serpent and the Eagle," which Paramount just picked up in turnaround from U. Howard also hopes to direct for Universal a Paul Attanasio-scripted adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel "East of Eden."

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3/30 - The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Power squared -- In one of those power moves by two of the biggest power movers in Tinseltown, actor Russell Crowe and director Ron Howard are in talks to join forces for their third film collaboration. Variety says The Power of Duff, written by Stephen Belber, is a powerful (natch) drama about a TV news anchor (Crowe) who suffers such anguish over his father's death that he begins to pray on the air. Possibly pitched to studio suits as Network meets Joan of Arcadia meets The Insider, the flick gets its dramatic frisson when those desperate prayers are answered (you can almost hear that overwrought music coming to a crescendo right about... now)." Thanks, Crowe Fan

From Script Sales.com: Log Line: A local newscaster in Rochester, N.Y., finds himself at the center of a spiritual drama. After the death of his father, the TV news anchor begins praying aloud for things to happen while reading the evening news. When his prayers start coming true, it ignites controversy about whether he's a prophet, a pundit or a charlatan.
Writer: Stephen Belber
Agent: Ted Chervin of BWCS and atty. Robert Offer of Offer, Weber and Dern
Buyer: Universal Pictures
Price: $900,000 against $1.25 million
Genre: Drama
Logged: 3/3/05
More: Spec script. Purchased in a bidding war. Marc Platt will produce.

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SciFi Wire: Crowe In Talks For Duff -- Russell Crowe and Ron Howard are circling The Power of Duff, a supernatural film scripted by Stephen Belber, about a TV news anchor whose on-air prayers start getting answered, Variety reported.

Play Scripts Inc: Stephen Belber -- Bio and Play List:
Stephen Belber (Big Ole Washing Machine | God Like a Jumpstart | Love | Passive Belligerence | Steak Knife | Steve | Through Fred | Trepidation Nation | Wind | Yes). Stephen Belber's plays include Match (Broadway), Tape, One Million Butterflies, Drifting Elegant, The Transparency of Val, The Wake, Through Fred, and The Death of Frank. Tape has been produced in England, Australia, Germany, Canada, Greece, and Malta, as well as Japan, Belgium, Sweden, and the Netherlands (upcoming), and Mr. Belber adapted it for a film directed by Richard Linklater. Mr. Belber is a member of Tectonic Theater Project and was one of the three Associate Writers (and an actor) for The Laramie Project, also performed around the world and made into an HBO movie (Emmy nomination for screenwriting). He is a graduate of Juilliard�s Playwrights Program, has received commissions from Playwrights Horizons, the Huntington Theater, the Humana Festival, Arena Stage and Philadelphia Theater Company, and is currently working on several screenplay commissions. His television credits include a year and a half with Law & Order, SVU. - Thanks, Ivani