By Chris Langlois (Chrisdfw) (64.157.117.199 - 64.157.117.199) on Monday, December 03, 2001 - 02:11 pm:

From Nov. 29, 2001 Varity--

PENA, HITLER AND RAM: Screenwriter Bruce McKenna, who wrote an episode of Band of Brothers, has made a deal with ABC and Touchstone TV for The Pena Files, a book he co-wrote about Octavio Pena, one of the best-paid private investigators in the world. McKenna will write a script for a potential pilot based on Pena's life, and given Pena's exploits are reminiscent of a Latino James Bond, the result might be a match for Jimmy Smits, who signed an overall deal with the web. McKenna will script and exec produce the project with manager Andrew R. Tennenbaum. McKenna's also in the middle of a trio of high profile film projects. One is the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Once Upon a Distant War, the story of journo David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan's early tour of duty in Vietnam. "It's these guys in their 20s who are unmasking lies that were being told by the State Dept.," said McKenna, who also teamed with Eric Jendresen to script Explaining Hitler for Universal and director Jim Sheridan. Produced by Casey Silver, pic tells the story of the Munich Post reporters who exposed Hitler and his aims long before he came to power, and were killed by him. "They laid out exactly what would happen and nobody listened to them, so the film becomes All the President's Men meets Cabaret," said McKenna. He's also working with David Fincher on Rendezvous with the Rama, the ambitious adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke book about mankind's first contact with alien intelligence. Morgan Freeman will star and produce with Lori McCreary under his Revelations banner. "It's 90% CGI, there's a deal with Intel to make it possible, and it'll be an unbelievable visual feast. Hopefully the story of first human contact is clean enough to be as compelling as the visuals will be." McKenna's repped by WMA and Flashpoint Ent.

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