Disney Studios Puts Mamet 'Anne Frank' Bio Reimagining In Turnaround

Disney Studios, which acquired the motion picture rights to a new rendition of "The Diary of Anne Frank," to be written and directed by David Mamet, has put the project in turnaround after rejecting the proposed Mamet take on the material reports TheWrap.com.

As adapted by Mamet, the film became a pro-Israel exploration of anti-Semitism set in contemporary times - making it less likely to be made by the Walt Disney Company.

"It's very intense, and dark and scary," an unnamed executive told The Wrap. "It's not a film version of 'The Diary of Anne Frank.' The story evolved into something more intense." To read the full scoop click here.

Mamet was to serve as producer with Andrew Braunsberg.

Few stories have captured a significant historical experience and continue to make an impact to this day than The Diary of Anne Frank. The diary which has sold more than 31 million copies, has been translated into 67 languages, is still taught in schools around the world, and arguably one of the key texts of the twentieth century, inspired two-time Academy Award® winning Director George Stevens (Best Director, Giant, A Place in the Sun) to start a dialog with Anne's father Otto Frank that led to the making of this three-time Academy Award winning filM. Starring Millie Perkins (Wall Street), OscarÒ winner Joseph Schildkraut (Best Supporting Actor, The Life of Emile Zola), two-time Academy Award winner Shelley Winters (Best Supporting Actress, A Patch of Blue), Richard Beymer (West Side Story) and Diane Baker (The Prize), The Diary of Anne Frank chronicles the lives of two Jewish families from 1942 to 1944 hiding from the Nazis. Cramped in a tiny Amsterdam attic for two years, Anne and seven others struggle to survive as sirens in the street below constantly reminded them that Hitler's army was waiting.

The Broadway premiere of OLEANNA, written by Mamet and directed by Doug Hughes, starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, will take place at the Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street) beginning on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 with the official opening night on Sunday, October 11, 2009.

Also this season, RACE, the new play written and directed by David Mamet will make its world premiere at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (located at 243 West 47th St.) beginning on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 with the official opening night on Thursday, December 6, 2009.

David Mamet, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Glengarry GLen Ross, has also written Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Lakeboat, The Water Engine, The Duck Variations, Reunion, The Blue Hour, The Shawl, Bobby Gould in Hell, Edmond, Romance, The Old Neighborhood and the recent adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. A two-time Academy Award nominee for The Verdict and Wag the Dog, Mamet's additional film credits include The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Untouchables, Hoffa, Ronin, The Edge, and We're No Angels. His nonfiction work includes The Wicked Son, True and False, and Bambi vs. Godzilla. He is a member of New York's Atlantic Theater Company, which he founded in 1985 with William H. Macy.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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