Merrick here...


Back in mid August, we learned that David Mamet would be writing and directing a new adaptation of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (details HERE).

Turns out, the project may not happen because THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK wasn't THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK.

TheWrap has a brief-but-interesting piece indicating that the project has been put into turnaround at Disney. Several factors may play into this decision, including the recent departure of chairman Dick Cook (which appears to have destabilized several high profile undertakings at the studio). But, at the end of the day, seems Mamet didn't give The Powers That Be what they were expecting:

...the screenplay is not a retelling of the famous Holocaust drama taken from the diaries of Frank, but about a contemporary Jewish girl who goes to Israel and learns about the traumas of suicide bombing.
[EDIT]
"It's very intense, and dark and scary," said the executive. "It's not a film version of 'The Diary of Anne Frank.' The story evolved into something more intense."

...says TheWrap HERE.

I always thought THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK was pretty dark, scary, and intense. I suppose the quoted executive means Mammet's work was 'dark, scary, and intense' in a different way?