Mike Fleming Jr. / Deadline Hollywood
David Permut‘s Permut Presentations and Reunion Pictures have teamed to produce Tracy And Hepburn, a David Rambo-scripted feature about the long love affair between the screen legends Spencer Tracyand Katharine Hepburn. Rambo’s credits include CSI and Revolution. The film starts when Tracy and Hepburn meet for the first time at MGM studios before making Woman Of The Year, and tracks their complicated relationship to Tracy’s death that came days after shooting his last scene in Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. The producers are looking for a director and the right actors to portray the iconic duo. Permut, John Dayton and Lisa Richardson will produce the film with Permut Presentation’s Chris Mangano executive producing with Reunion Pictures’ Tom Rowe and Matthew O’Connor.
Over 27 years, Tracy and Hepburn starred in nine films together, one of Hollywood’s most successful on-screen couples. They were madly in love off screen, and though he never divorced his wife Louise Tracy, he and Hepburn’s love affair was an open secret in Hollywood. Hepburn remained committed to Tracy until his death in 1967, but their relationship suffered from Tracy’s struggles with alcoholism and Catholic guilt.
“David Rambo is one of the most prolific writers I know,” Permut said. “I had entrusted him to write a one-man play on Ronald Reagan called The Lifeguard, which he executed brilliantly. He’s now gotten under the skin of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn’s complex relationship with the same unique style and elegance.”
Dayton and Hepburn worked together over the latter part of her life and became a confidante as he produced The Man Upstairs, This Can’t Be Love, Love Affair and her final film One Christmas.
Vancouver-based Reunion Pictures, a Thunderbird Films Company, is a collaboration between producers Richardson, Tom Rowe and Matthew O’Connor that is about to launch The Last Great Gold Rush, written by Ted Mann, and the Nick Willing-penned Opium as international co-productions. On the big screen, they are exec producing the Blade Runner reboot being mounted by Ridley Scott and Alcon. Permut just wrapped the Stephen Belber-directed Match with Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard.