"Beaver" acclaim spurs Mel Gibson comeback plans (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – In May, Mel Gibson stood basking in the applause of the black-tie audience as "The Beaver" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. But now Cannes has come and gone, and so has "Beaver," which grossed less than $1 million at the North American box office.

So where does Gibson, whose image was tarnished by his outbursts during his bitter custody battle with his former girlfriend, go from here?

Turns out, Hollywood is still eager to get into the Mel Gibson business. "Beaver" earned him some good reviews, and the general consensus is that any star would have had a hard time opening the quirky drama. "It was just a heavy, depressing, tough art movie," says one distributor.

Gibson hasn't had an agent since William Morris dropped him last summer, but several agencies are courting the actor, according to knowledgeable sources.

"There's a lot of interest on the agency side, but I don't think anything is imminent," says the actor's spokesman, Alan Nierob.

There are other questions on the table: Gibson has completed a film that he produced, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," but it has yet to find a U.S. distributor even though it sold in most other global territories.

Directed by Adrian Grunberg -- who served as first assistant director on Gibson's "Apocalypto" -- the sure-to-be-R-rated movie is set in a tough Mexican prison where Gibson's character, an American on the run, is thrown after being seized by Mexican authorities. There, he strikes up a friendship with a 9-year-old boy.

Summit, Lionsgate and FilmDistrict have screened the picture, but so far no takers. "It's an interesting, cool movie," says one buyer who passed. "In fact, it has what I'd call a Tarantino-esque feeling."

There also is the question of what movie Gibson might take on next. Lately, he's been talking up a proposed film version of Randall Wallace's novel "Love and Honor," a swashbuckler set in the court of Catherine the Great. Wallace, who wrote Gibson's "Braveheart," is looking to direct.

More immediately, Gibson also has been offered a role in "Sleight of Hand," a heist movie with Gerard Depardieu and Til Schweiger; it is set to begin filming in Paris in August.

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Ranchera prodigy Rojas, in a "good place," tries comeback (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – As a teenager growing up in Southern California in the 1990s, Nydia Rojas was touted as mariachi music's next big thing.

She released four albums on Arista Latin and Hollywood Records. She toured with Juan and Ana Gabriel. She even earned a Latin Grammy Award nomination in 2000 for her album "Si Me Conocieras," which received a nod for best ranchero performance.

And then, one day in 2001, Rojas decided to walk away from it all. She went back to school, got married, worked for a spell as a 911 emergency dispatcher and reclaimed her life -- a life she felt she no longer had control of.

"I wasn't living for myself -- I was living for others and that's all I knew," Rojas says. "When I left the business, I went back to school. I studied music, but I also began living normal experiences in order to be where I am today, which I believe is a good place."

Now 31, Rojas is attempting to make a comeback. She is working with her husband, percussionist Raul Pineda, on a new album that she hopes to release in the fall.

"It's going to be an independent project, taking my influences and adding filters of my heritage from Mexican folk music and Cuban music with modern attributes of my singing style," she says.

Rojas is also opening nine shows in California for ranchera legend Vicente Fernandez, including five shows at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles scheduled for mid-November.

"Not too many people get second chances," says Jose Hernandez, musical director for Mariachi Sol de Mexico, who mentored the singer as a child. "She's getting to tour with Vicente Fernandez because she deserves it. She has the vocal capabilities."

Tony Romero, a tour manager working the Fernandez concerts, agrees, saying that Rojas "has a very special style and she knows how to captivate an audience."

Live performances will play a key role in Rojas' efforts to re-establish a career in music, says Rodri J. Rodriguez, who helped launch her career with the annual Mariachi USA showcase at the Hollywood Bowl.

"When you are passionate about something you can always come back to that road," Rodriguez says. "I know she's tried different things, but her road always brings her back to what she's good at."

Rojas admits that her first gig opening for Fernandez on May 6 in Fresno, Calif., gave her butterflies. But she says it also felt like a homecoming.

"It was exhilarating and I am grateful," she says.

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

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Arnold Schwarzenegger picks drama for comeback (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Arnold Schwarzenegger has zeroed in on the film that will mark his return to the big screen: "Cry Macho," a drama about a down-on-his-luck horse trainer who is hired to kidnap a 9-year-old boy.

Filming is set to begin in September. Brad Furman ("The Lincoln Lawyer") will direct. Producer Al Ruddy, an Oscar winner for both "The Godfather" and "Million Dollar Baby," has been nurturing the project for years.

"I guarantee that you'll get another look at Arnold Schwarzenegger in this movie," Ruddy said. "Arnold always plays these big muscular guys, but there's a sweetness to Arnold in real life, and we want to bring that sweetness to the screen. Now that Brad's met with Arnold, he's convinced there's an accessibility and vulnerability there that he wants to bring out."

The project's financier, QED International, will begin offering it to international buyers at the Cannes Film Festival next week.

Schwarzenegger's deal calls for the actor to receive $12.5 million plus 25% of gross ticket sales from the first dollar. Ruddy and Schwarzenegger also will end up co-owning the negative on the film.

While the former governor also is attached to a "Terminator" package that is being offered to studios, with "Macho," he is opting for a movie that is more a character study than a full-blown action piece -- although some action elements have been added to accommodate the star.

The film is based on the 1975 novel, "Cry Macho," by N. Richard Nash, who also wrote the play The Rainmaker. Nash, who died in 2000, wrote the screenplay, which Ruddy has re-optioned over the years.

"I just would never let go of this one," Ruddy, 81, said. Actors ranging from Burt Lancaster to Pierce Brosnan expressed interest in the lead role. And at one point, it looked as if Clint Eastwood might star in and direct.

Because he didn't want to lose control of the property, Ruddy said, he never took it to a studio but continued to look for ways to package it independently.

Schwarzenegger, 63, will play Mike, a horse trainer whose wife and son have died. His former boss makes him an over he can't refuse: $400,000 to kidnap the boss' trust-fund son, who is living with the man's ex-wife in Mexico. But when Mike locates the boy, a real troublemaker, the ex-wife doesn't want the kid. But as Mike and the boy head back to the states, with the Federales on their trail, they develop a father-son bond.

"If it works, and I think it will," Ruddy said, "this could be a classic. There's an emotional line to the story that really works. At the end of the movie, I'm hoping audiences will be laughing and crying at the same time."

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