Mark Ruffalo and Jake at "Zodiac" Cannes Film Festival Premiere.
"Mark Ruffalo will make his feature directing debut on "Sympathy for Delicious."
Ruffalo will star with James Franco and Chris Thornton. Production begins this fall in Los Angeles, and the pic is fully financed by new company Corner Store Entertainment.
Thornton, who wrote the script, plays "Delicious" Dean O'Dwyer, a paralyzed DJ struggling to survive in his wheelchair on the streets of L.A. He turns to faith-healing and mysteriously acquires the ability to cure the sick -- although not himself. Ruffalo plays a Jesuit priest who tries to help him come to terms with the limits of his gift, and Franco a rock singer in a band that exploits the suddenly famous healer.
Pic will be produced by Andrea Sperling, Matthew Weaver, Scott Prissand, Ruffalo and Thornton, with Robert Stein and Joanne Jacobson exec producers.
The film is being financed by Corner Store Entertainment, a venture of Weaver and Prisand, who've quietly financed two other pics over the past several months and raised the coin to bankroll a slate of moderately priced films over the next three years.
Weaver, son of former Paramount marketing exec Gordon Weaver, has credits that include "The Heartbreak Kid" remake, the doc "Surfwise" and "Pretty Persuasion." Prissand has produced several stage musicals, including "Legally Blonde."
FREE SCREENINGS* are happening at the following locations during this month July:
Tuesday, 7/15 at AMC Century City, 7:30 PM Monday, 7/21 at AMC Santa Monica 7, 7:30 PM Wednesday 7/23 at the Burbank Complex, 7:30 PM Monday, 7/28 at the Grove, 7:30 PM
*Please arrive early as seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. This pass does not guarantee admission, is non-transferable and is not redeemable for cash. Screening is over invited to ensure capacity.
Columbia Pictures reserves the right to admit or refuse access to the theatre at the discretion of an authorized representative.
"A scholarship fund benefiting struggling Australian actors has been established in late star Heath Ledger's memory.
Gregor Jordan, who befriended Ledger while directing him in 1999's Two Hands, announced the fund's formation at Thursday night's Australians in Film Breakthrough Awards in Beverly Hills.
Jordan, who also directed Ledger in 2003's Ned Kelly, told guests Ledger's spirit had inspired the foundation, as he was once just "your old, broke Aussie actor" struggling to make a name for himself.
But after earning his first significant paycheque, the Perth, Australia native immediately went "into a bar (to) buy everyone a round of drinks."
The director said, "It is that generosity that somehow sums Heath up. When he had nothing, he still found a way to give to others."
Jordan admitted the details of the scholarship at this point remain "a little sketchy" but did pronounce the first benefactor would be Ledger's former girlfriend, Michelle Williams - the mother of Ledger's two-year-old daughter Matilda Rose.
He added: "It's going to involve a number of benefactors and there's been a lot of interest already. "I was talking to Michelle Williams, his partner and the mother of his child, today and Michelle has said she would be very proud and happy to be the first benefactor."
A letter written by Ledger's father Kim, who could not attend, was read aloud, stating: "We know that Heath would be proud of his attachment to this scholarship.
"(It) does what Heath has done personally during the last 10 years, (supporting) Australian actors, singers, directors or writers who seek to supply their talents to the U.S.A."
Mark Ruffalo and Jake at "Zodiac" Cannes Film Festival Premiere.
Prissand has produced several stage musicals, including "Legally Blonde."
