The Hollywood Reporter---November 4, 2002

ABC sets Natalie Wood biopic

By Nellie Andreeva

The untitled film, which will air during during the 2003-04 season, is based on Suzanne Finstads' book "Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood."

Elizabeth Egloff wrote the small-screen adaptation, which is set to start production in the winter in Australia.

Gerald W. Abrams (TNT's "Nuremberg"), Bob Sertner, Frank von Zerneck ("We Were the Mulvaneys") and Finstad are executive producing, withRichard Fischoff and Randy Sutter producing. Wood's sister, Lana Wood, will co-produce.

The movie will focus on Wood's deep inner conflict between her real self--Natasha Zakharenko, born to Russian immigrants in San Francisco--and the glamorous Natalie Wood persona created by her ambitious mother and shaped by the powerful studio system.

ABC's film, from Cypress Point Prods. and Von Zerneck/Sertner Films, will be driven not so much by plot but by Wood's relationships and her complexcharacter, said Quinn Taylor, ABC senior vp motion pictures for television. "She was a very smart, aggressive, manipulative--when needed to be--and strongwoman, but she also had many demons," Taylor said.

Abrams, who optioned the book before ABC acquired the rights to it after a heated bidding in 2000, called Wood "the Julia Roberts of her day.

"She lived a sensational life and tragically, had an even more sensational death," he said.

Wood drowned in 1981 at age 43.

In addition to their Slavic roots, Wood and Bogdanovich, a New Yorker of Serbian descent, have much in common. Born just a year apart. the two meta few times, were part of the same Hollywood generation.

"Peter was part of that golden age of Hollywood in which Natalie Wood rose to fame, giving us no doubt he will perfectly capture the circumstances that created the glories and tragedies of her life," Taylor said.

Waddell, who flew in on her own dime to test for the role, was cast after an exhaustive search.

"Besides looking eerily like Natalie, she's a superb young actress," Bogdanovich said. "Justine has the ability to capture all the different stages of her life."

Added Taylor: "Justine has that natural grace and beauty that is hard to find, and we have no doubt that she will bring out Natalie's physical beauty and emotional life."

Bogdanovich was nominated for an Oscar for co-writing and directing "The Last Picture Show." His directing credits also include such hits as "What's Up, Doc?" "Paper Moon" and "Mask."

The director, who most recently helmed the 2001 feature "The Cat's Meow," is repped by Paradigm and manager Johnnie Planco.