Moguls seek film rights for ‘Open’
A bidding war for film rights to Andre Agassi's explosive best-selling book "Open" involves Hollywood heavyweights Stephen Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer.
Agassi confirmed the participants in an interview with Vegas Confidential, but added he was "nowhere near hard plans on my end to see that through."
Spielberg, a co-founder of DreamWorks, has won two Academy Awards for best director for "Schindler's List" in 1993 and "Saving Private Ryan" in 1998.
Bruckheimer is known for producing blockbuster films, including the "Pirates of The Caribbean" franchise, and hit TV shows.
Agassi's book, a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning author J.R. Moehringer, became a New York Times best-seller about a week after its debut in 2009.
Agassi said he is "spending lot of time going through the positives and negatives of it. The positive being your story reaching millions of more people and the caution in having your life reinterpreted."
Both filmmakers would take a different approach, he said.
Agassi held his 16th Grand Slam for Children on Saturday at Wynn Las Vegas amid rumblings that the evening would be capped by a historic donation by a Las Vegas gaming pioneer.
TEXAS CONNECTIONS
Myron Martin's baseball loyalties lie deep in the heart of Texas.
The president and CEO of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts was unabashedly pulling for his Texas Rangers, who lost the World Series for the second year in a row.
After all, he played for the Rangers in 1976. Yup, he was the organist at old Arlington Stadium.
"I loved baseball," Martin said. "Being in college and getting to go the games, would have been good enough. To get paid on top of that was really great."
He found his Rangers work card among his memorabilia and posted it on Faceback on Saturday.
Later he also played the organ for the Atlanta Braves for two seasons, 1983 and 1984. He recalls introducing their relief pitching standout, Steve Bedrosian, with a rendition of "The Flintstones" theme song. Bedrosian's nickname was "Bedrock," the fictional prehistoric city in "The Flintstones."
There's another connection with Martin and his Texas roots: The Rangers' new stadium was designed by David M. Schwarz, architect of the Smith Center, which opens in March.
SIGHTINGS
On the Grand Slam for Children red carpet: Agassi and wife Steffi Graf, Steve and Andrea Wynn, Elaine Wynn and daughters Gillian and Kevyn, Smokey Robinson, Jimmy Kimmel, actress Elisabeth Shue of "Leaving Las Vegas" and her husband, Davis Guggenheim, comedian Jeff Ross, figure skating champ Tai Babilonia , tennis great Stan Smith, the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy drum line, Olympic decathlon champion Dan O'Brien, and Carrot Top. ... Simon Cowell, at XS Nightclub (Encore), among the revelers for the Fallen Angels-themed costume party. ... "Jersey Shore" star Jennifer "JWoww" Farley, at Chateau (Paris) with boyfriend Roger Mathews, and UFC star Frank Edgar, with wife Renee, decked out in gangster costumes and toy machine guns.
THE PUNCH LINE
"Three would be triage." -- Agassi's response when I asked whether he and Graf planned to have more children.
Norm Clarke can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.
