ESPN joins Robert Redford’s Robinson biopic
ESPN has said that its film unit would join forces with Robert Redford on a theatrical movie about Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers star who broke baseball’s colour barrier in the 1940s. ESPN Films joins the biopic that Redford has been working on for several years. Thomas Carter (Coach Carter) is attached as director for the project. Redford will play Branch Rickey, the team’s general manager. The project has the blessing of Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s widow, as well as Branch Rickey Jr. and Major League Baseball. Among the producers are Howard and Karen Baldwin, who helped bring Ray to the big screen.

Time Warner axes most New Line staffers
Time Warner Inc. began laying off most of the employees at its New Line Cinema unit recently, six weeks after deciding to bring the struggling studio under the arm of its bigger Warner Bros. division. Some 450 employees in New York and Los Angeles will lose their jobs; about 40-50 staffers will remain at New Line in its new life as a genre label. Another 40 New Line employees are being offered positions elsewhere within Warner Bros. Under the corporate edict announced in February by Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, the revamped New Line will have a small development and production team along with marketing, publicity and business affairs executives. Warner Bros. will handle the distribution of movies, beginning with the April 25 release of the comedy sequel Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. Toby Emmerich, who had headed production at the old New Line, was named president and chief operating officer of the New Line last month.
After making a mint with the three Lord of the Rings films, New Line has struggled for the past two years. Recent domestic disappointments included Semi-Pro and The Golden Compass.