Tagged: Benecio Del Toro
Mad Men
Lots of people are spending this off-day blogging about the Yankees’ chances for:
a) winning the division
b) having a viable starting rotation for the playoffs
c) avoiding the need for Austin Kearns
d) enjoying a series at Fenway for the first time ever.
Not me. I spent the day having a lunch meeting in L.A. with the producer of “An Ex to Grind,” the novel I hope will become a movie soon. She told me that Benecio Del Toro, who’s attached to play the male lead, and Jeremy Garelick, who wrote “The Hangover” and is working on our script, got together and talked about making Benecio’s character a baseball player instead of a football player. Apparently, both are baseball fans. (I was totally ferklempt when I heard that.) Anyhow, the other subject that came up at lunch today was the TV show “Mad Men.” I admitted I’d never watched it.
“How can you not watch it?” said the flabbergasted producer.
“I want to,” I said. “I just haven’t had time. Either I’m watching a ballgame or I forget. One of these days I’ll buy the first season on DVD and catch up.”
As I drove back to Santa Barbara, I was determined to order the show and start watching. In the meantime, here’s my own version. It stars, in alphabetical order:
Cameron Diaz
Derek Jeter
Minka Kelly
Alex Rodriguez
No wonder people are so into this show!
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Swisher Gets a Pie and I Get a Movie Deal!
Yes, the subjects are unrelated, but I’m killing two birds with one stone in this post.
First, the Yankees. Their thrilling 3-2 victory over the Rays was yet another example of the 2009 team’s “comeback-y-ness.” I mean, Nick Swisher hitting a walkoff homer in the bottom of the ninth – his second dinger of the night? This from a guy who couldn’t buy a home run in the Bronx? Crazy but true.
And Chad Gaudin going toe-to-toe with David Price in a pitcher’s duel for six innings? Also crazy but true.
Gaudin was great and made me eat crow because I kept saying how bad he is.
With the Yanks up 2-0, he ran out of gas in the seventh, allowing a homer to Longoria. I kept wishing Girardi hadn’t brought him back out for the inning, but he found himself in a jam, and it took Marte, Bruney and Coke to get him off the hook.
Then came Huuuuuuughes in the eighth. Mr. I-Haven’t-Given-Up-a-Run-in-12-Outings surrenders a home run to Bartlett to tie things up at 2-2? Yet again, crazy but true.
Which brings us to the ninth. Mo did what he does best: shut down the opposition. And then Swisher did his thing – from the other side of the plate this time. Having so many switch hitters on the team is a such an advantage.
The other news I wanted to share is that 20th Century Fox has bought the movie rights to my 2005 novel “An Ex to Grind,” a romantic comedy about a high-powered Manhattan financial planner who has to pay alimony to her slacker ex-husband, a former wide receiver for the NY Giants. Fed up, she hatches a devious plan to get her ex out of her life for good – only to decide she wants him back.
You can read about the novel here and watch me talking about the story here. To be produced by Laura Bickford, who produced such films as “Traffic,” “Che” and the recent “Duplicity”…
and Julie Yorn, who produced “Bride Wars” co-starring A-Rod’s squeeze Kate Hudson…
the movie already has two stars “attached,” which means that if they approve the script they’ll sign on for the film. Playing my heroine would be Cameron Diaz.
And in the part of the ex? Benecio Del Toro.
A funny note on all this. Apparently, Benecio wasn’t comfortable playing a pro football player because he’s not a big guy, so he asked the producers, “Would it be OK with the author if we made the ex-husband a baseball player instead?” A baseball player? Uh, yeah. I think so.
I’ve had eight books optioned for films over the years, and none of them ever made it to the screen. But I have a really good feeling about this one. And if it does happen? I hope everybody will go see it!
Confessions of a She-Fan 