Pursuit of Happiness?

[JusticeKnight]

Now that Will is doing "Tonight He, Comes" will he still be making Pursuit of Happiness? :what: I really Hope so.... :sad6:

[Radewart]

This is just a project he's developing. Who know what movie he'll do next. It could be either the "mark" or "Affarmitive Action", too.

[fabman]

wasn't there A STAR IS BORN planned, too?

[Radewart]

Here's an article from the Chicago Tribune on the movie, interesting its out to dierctors now.

INNOVATORS: OFF THE STREETS

His biggest deal: Life

Once homeless and now a millionaire, Chris Gardner still wants to make big changes. A movie about his life will share his story.

By Rob Kaiser

Tribune staff reporter

Published March 14, 2005

Chris Gardner has gone from sleeping in a San Francisco subway bathroom to luxuriating on the 63rd floor of New York's Trump Tower.

The high-rise is one of three homes the millionaire, who is an owner and partner in a Chicago-based brokerage, now owns.

Next stop? Hollywood.

The 50-year-old's storybook tale is about to be widely told. In January, actor Will Smith signed on to play Gardner in "Pursuit of Happiness," a film about his life to be released next year by Columbia Pictures. A HarperCollins autobiography also is in the works.

Both will detail Gardner's rags-to-riches journey. Where he once had to haul everything he owned out of a homeless shelter each day, Gardner currently can't find time to play with all his possessions, which include a Ferrari Testarossa once owned by Michael Jordan.

Though Gardner will soon be swept up in publicity as the movie nears, he insists he remains focused on what got him off the streets: brokering deals. Moving beyond stock trades, Gardner is trying to leverage his big-money relationships to raise a $1 billion fund for investments in South Africa.

"I have yet to see my life's wealth," Gardner said. "I see it coming."

His 18-employee firm, Gardner Rich & Co., operates out of a squat building near the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Since starting the firm, Gardner has been particularly adept at building relationships with labor leaders, who he hopes will provide a good portion of the funding for the South African venture.

Gardner has made his living cultivating similar connections with pension fund managers and other moneyed individuals to steer stock brokerage business to his firm. He does it with a directness and boisterous charm that he once used to talk his way into a night's stay in a homeless shelter for mothers.

"He's the kind of person who walks into an office and knows all the assistants and the person at the reception desk," said Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Capital Management LLC in Chicago and a friend of Gardner's.

"He'll know people's birthdays and their kids' names. Somehow he's able to do that with hundreds, if not thousands of people," she said.

Gardner grew up in a series of Milwaukee homes with his mother, stepfather and three sisters.

"My stepfather was fond of letting me know, quote, `I ain't your ... damn daddy,'" Gardner said. "That was something that was painful, to put it mildly."

Anxious to set out on his own life, Gardner said he lied about his age to get in the Navy at 17. He spent three years in the Navy's medical corps in North Carolina, leaving to work as a research assistant for a former Navy doctor in San Francisco. He then took a job as a medical supply salesman.

Gardner said his career path changed dramatically in 1981 when he spotted a "gorgeous, red Ferrari." When he learned the driver was a stockbroker who earned $80,000 a month, he began hunting for a job at a brokerage firm.

After 10 months of searching, a brokerage firm offered him a job. He quit his medical supply sales job and showed up for work only to learn the hiring manager had been fired and his services weren't needed.

"Nobody knew who I was or why I was there," Gardner said.

Gardner said he did whatever he could for money--cutting grass, painting houses, cleaning basements and other assorted jobs. The woman he considered his common-law wife left him, taking away his young son and locking away his possessions.

That same day his family left, the police arrested him for having $1,200 in unpaid parking tickets. He landed in jail for 10 days.

Immediately after his release, Gardner went to a previously scheduled interview at Dean Witter in smelly clothing and paint-spattered sneakers.

"I could not think of a lie bizarre enough," Gardner said. "I told the truth."

Amazingly, he was hired.

As a stockbroker-in-training, Gardner worked the phones. He cold-called 200 prospects a day, and colleagues noticed his zeal for the job.

"Chris had an amazing intensity and desire," said Bob Muh, who Gardner worked for at Bear Sterns after leaving Dean Witter. "He just had a passion for wanting to learn and absorb as much as he could. He was willing to work tremendously long hours."

For much of that time, he had nowhere else to go. A few months after she left, Gardner's common-law wife returned and handed over his son. They had to leave the boarding house where he was living because it didn't accept children.

They spent the night in friends' homes, cheap hotels, bus stations, the airport and a subway bathroom. Sometimes Gardner was the first in the office and the last to leave because he was sleeping under his desk.

He eventually got into the homeless shelter for mothers, but nobody was allowed to keep their possessions there.

Rev. Cecil Williams, a San Francisco pastor, remembers Gardner showing up at his church's soup kitchen. "He came through the line every day with a baby in his arms," Williams recalled. "I said, `My God, this man really has some commitment.'"

After nearly a year as a stockbroker trainee, which paid $1,000 a month, Gardner saved enough money to move with his son into their own place.

Gardner worked at Bear Sterns for four years, leaving in 1986 to start his own company in Chicago. Several former colleagues said they encouraged him to take advantage of special opportunities for minority-owned brokerage firms.

Gardner said such set-aside programs have helped his firm, but he's had to fight for business.

"He's butted heads with [Citigroup Inc. Chairman] Sandy Weill to get access to bond deals," said Michael R. Conners, who runs the Eventus hedge fund in Chicago and worked with Gardner at Bear Sterns. "He's fearless."

Gardner's story came to public attention in 2002 when a San Francisco television station did a story on Williams' church, including how its programs helped Gardner become successful. The television show "20/20" picked up his story, and Hollywood came calling.

One man pitched a reality show where Gardner would decide which homeless contestant would win a job, a $300,000 house and $100,000 in cash. Gardner said he responded, "Homelessness is not a game and if it is, I already won so send me the money."

He was more interested in a movie based on his life. Gardner sold story rights, and the project is now being shopped to directors.

Still, Gardner is just as eager to talk about the South African project as the movie.

He began looking around for a new venture a few years ago as profit margins in the brokerage business began getting squeezed. A labor leader gave Gardner the idea of creating an investment fund for South Africa, where he is working with a local investment firm.

Two years ago he met Nelson Mandela, South Africa's revered former president.

"He shook my hand and said, `Welcome home, son,'" Gardner said.

"I just cried like a baby. Being a little boy who grew up without a father, I just never heard anybody say those words to me."

Still, sentiment aside, the South African venture is a particularly challenging one.

Marshall Geller, head of a private equity fund in Los Angeles and Gardner's former boss at Bear Sterns, noted that numerous other groups have tried raising similar funds without success. Many investors express interest in helping the country recover from apartheid. Yet when it comes time to put in their money, few do.

Convincing major investors that South African investments will yield sizable financial, not just social, returns is Gardner's biggest sales job yet.

Geller said he told Gardner, "If you can pull it off, you'll be a legend."

- - -

Chris Gardner's story

Age: 50

Background: Grew up in Milwaukee. Joined the Navy at age 17. Left after three years in the medical corps, became a medical supply salesman.

Became homeless when: He quit medical supply job to take position as a stockbroker. But the man who hired him was fired in the interim, leaving no job for Gardner. Shortly after, family left him and he spent 10 days in jail for unpaid parking tickets.

Pulled himself up by: In sneakers and stinky clothes, Gardner showed up for job interview at Dean Witter on day of his release from jail. He told the truth about his situation and got the job. Worked his way through training program, sleeping under his desk and eating in soup kitchens.

Currently: Partner in 18-employee Chicago-based brokerage, Gardner Rich & Co.

What's next: Columbia Pictures film about his life, "Pursuit of Happiness," starring Will Smith, to be released next year. HarperCollins autobiography is also in the works.

[PeaceAngel]

I don't think he'll be doing any new movies right now cuz of his new album coming out, but I have no idea...

[Angel Amor]

Will is a busy man. He's promoting his new album. Then gonna do the "Pursuit of Happiness" which is the producer of and starring in it. The the two other projects in development like the movie with Ben Affleck "Affirmative Action" but both have not agree yet. Then the other one "Tonight He Comes" which Will will play a superhero that is not a niceguy. Both are still in development so it can change. And a world wide tour. Which might take six months maybe longer depending on how may stops he does. :angel:

[TopDawg14]

The other projects are rumors. The only legit project that Will's doing is the Chris Gardner project.

Will has been rumored to do at least 4 movies. It doesn't come into fruition until they actually start filming the movie.

Will has been rumored to remake "A Star Is Born" for about 4 years.

The movie with Ben Affleck is a dead issue since Affleck will be stepping behind the camera to direct Dennis Lehane's novel Gone, Baby, Gone. Filming begins this fall in Boston(source - Chicago Sun-Times 3/24/05).

Will may take on "The Mark" but his first project is "Pursuit Of Happiness."

I hope this will help everyone.

[Radewart]

The other projects are rumors. The only legit project that Will's doing is the Chris Gardner project.

Will has been rumored to do at least 4 movies. It doesn't come into fruition until they actually start filming the movie.

Will has been rumored to remake "A Star Is Born" for about 4 years.

The movie with Ben Affleck is a dead issue since Affleck will be stepping behind the camera to direct Dennis Lehane's novel Gone, Baby, Gone. Filming begins this fall in Boston(source - Chicago Sun-Times 3/24/05).

Will may take on "The Mark" but his first project is "Pursuit Of Happiness."

I hope this will help everyone.

"The Mark" ain't happening, either is "Affirmative Action." Will is likely going to do some music stuff for awhile and then start filming something over the summer. It's likely gonna be "Tonight He Comes" cause it already has a director in place, followed by "Pursuit of Happiness".

[E - Style-Greesy - E]

Now that Will is doing "Tonight He, Comes" will he still be making Pursuit of Happiness? :what: I really Hope so.... :sad6:

I think he'll do it because he also loves movies how we all know so I say he'll do it! ( If he's not too old already... ) :kekeke:

[MaxFly]

When does shooting for "Pursuit of Happiness" really begin. I'm guessing around the fall sometime?