Rudin may produce Genius

Variety reports that out producer Scott Rudin (Iris, The Royal Tenenbaums) and New Line Cinema are poised to enter negotiations to coproduce Dave Eggers's best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. New Line hopes to keep the film's budget low enough so as not to have to coproduce it with sister company Warner Bros. Pictures or with Rudin's base of operations, Paramount Pictures. "Rudin is fantastic with the adaptations of challenging books," says New Line production president Toby Emmerich. In late 2000, New Line paid a whopping $2 million for rights to the book.