Eisner Goes to the Sahara

Friday, Feburary 4, 2005
By Roger Friedman


If you're sad that the Michael Eisner-Michael Ovitz shareholders' trial is over ,and you're feeling some withdrawal, don't fret.

There's a nice new scandalous trial cooking for the spring. And like the former circus, this one also features an Eisner.

The new "series" co-stars Breck Eisner, Michael's son and a sometime movie director. The subject of the trial is a Paramount movie Eisner just made called "Sahara," starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz.

Clive Cussler, the best-selling writer of the novel upon which the movie is based, is suing the producer, Philip Anschutz, for $10 million plus damages.

Cussler is claiming that he had the right to approve or disapprove the final script for "Sahara." He says that he disapproved, but the producer made it anyway.

You may know Anschutz's name as the producer of the ill-fated recent remake of "Around the World in 80 Days." He has a movie company called Walden Media, but in reality he made his billions from sports franchises after his father made millions in Kansas oil prospecting.

One look at the "Sahara" credits is quite amusing. There are over 15 producers listed. The script is credited to four people, but I am told that over a dozen versions came and went. The actual writer of the script that Cussler hated is, so far, not credited at all.

Fun stuff, huh? A jury will decide this spring if Cussler's rights were violated by Anschutz's company.

But here's the good part: It seems that when Walden Media started up, Anschutz hired away an executive named Cary Granat from Miramax's Dimension Films. Bob and Harvey Weinstein were angry and sued Walden.

My sources say that at some point in the proceedings, Disney's Michael Eisner, who distributes Miramax's films, interceded. He asked the Weinsteins to drop their suit, according to sources. Suddenly the suit went away.

Shortly thereafter, Disney entered into a series of deals with Walden. Among them: Breck Eisner, Michael's son, was hired by Walden to direct "Sahara," a film with a budget of $130 million plus.

Eisner's previous credits include two very small indie films, which were never released, and three TV episodes.