By Don Kaplan, The New York Post. Fox News. 7:26 a.m. ET (1126 GMT) May 11, 2000
NEW YORK — FOX Family Channel is locking horns with CBS in a battle to air the first Elian Gonzalez movie.
Bet on seeing an adaptation of the Cuban boy's custody battle within the next few months
According to next week's TV Guide, Fox Family Channel is developing a TV movie based on the saga of the 6-year-old Cuban raft boy — and sources say it could air as early as this summer or early fall.
CBS, which has had a four-hour miniseries in production for months, hopes to air its own version of the saga in November, sources say.
"The whole point for Fox is to get it on the air first," an industry source says.
Fox Family Channel officials declined to comment Wednesday.
"It's logical to assume that an early version script has already been turned in," said a source close to the project.
For CBS, the Elian story is expected to be an "up-to-the-second account" of the tug-of-love drama that has captivated two nations, sources said.
The CBS miniseries is being produced by Craig Anderson, the brains behind the recent CBS miniseries on the 38-year affair between Thomas Jefferson and his slave mistress, Sally Hemmings.
"The actual story is still unfolding so it's hard to say when [the miniseries] will happen," a spokeswoman for Anderson tells TV Guide. "CBS has said next season, but at this stage it's all so unpredictable."
Meanwhile, Star magazine recently reported that the wheels are in motion to produce a theatrical film about the Elian saga.
None of the movies have been cast yet and no directors have been named, according to reports.
Last November, Gonzalez's mother was lost at sea while trying to escape Cuba on a leaky raft.
Six-year-old Elian survived the trip, was rescued by fishermen off the coast of Florida and was taken in by relatives in Miami, setting off an international tug-of-war when Elian's father and Cuban leader Fidel Castro demanded that the boy be returned to Cuba.
Last month, Federal agents stormed the Miami relative's home and returned the boy to his father, Juan Miguel.
The two are now staying behind the walls of the secluded Wye River Plantation on Maryland's Eastern Shore until the case can be resolved in court. |