Summit, Participant Tap Ric Roman Waugh To Helm ‘Deepwater Horizon’ Oil Rig Disaster

By MIKE FLEMING | Tuesday July 24, 2012 @ 7:05pm EDT Deadline.com EXCLUSIVE: Ric Roman Waugh is in negotiations to direct Summit Entertainment and Participant Media’s Deepwater Horizon, the drama about the April 20, 2010 of the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that caused a massive offshore oil spill that created what’s considered to be the second largest U.S. environmental disaster. The film, scripted by Matthew Sand, is based on The New York Times article titled Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hour, published December 25, 2010 written by David Barstow, David Rohde, and Stephanie Saul. Summit and Participant Media, in association with Imagenation Abu Dhabi, acquired the feature film rights to the project in March of 2011 in a bidding battle. Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian will produce the project via the Di Bonaventura Pictures banner. The rig, which was owned and operated by Transocean and drilling for BP in the Macondo Prospect oil field about 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast, blew up and the explosion killed 11 workers and injured 16 others. The drama will focus on the courage of those who worked on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the final minutes up to the disaster, and the attempt of more than 100 others to stay alive. Waugh is currently directing Summit’s Snitch, with Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon. He just made the move to WME and is also repped by Management 360. Erik Feig, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group’s President of Production, along with Summit Entertainment’s President of Production, Geoff Shaevitz, are overseeing with Participant’s Jonathan King. http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/summit-participant-tap-ric-roman-waugh-to-helm-deepwater-horizon-oil-rig-disaster/