Morgan Spurlock is jumping back into production this June with Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan's Hope, a doc that will follow seven Comic-Con attendees. And just how will Spurlock make sure that he captures an authentic portrait of the Comic-Con experience? By conferring with the film's trusty group of advisors, who bring a ton of street cred to the project. Joss Wheedon (The Avengers, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog), Ain't It Cool News' Harry Knowles and comicbook god Stan Lee are all on board in as executive producers. Joining the trio are Legendary Pictures chairman Thomas Tull and Jeremy Chilnick, Spurlock's Warrior Poets producing partner. In an interview with Black Book, Spurlock says that he fell in love with Comic-Con last year when he was there shooting The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3-D! On Ice! Says Spurlock:

"It is such an incredible place and it is such a place of influence. Comic-Con has become so influential in pop culture. The world of movies, TV, graphic novels and comics, video games. Literally, they are the tastemakers of this generation. For me, doing a film about that would be just great." [Source: Reuters, Variety]

Marina Zenovich (Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired) is on board to direct a feature-length documentary based on Mark Harris' best-seller Pictures At A Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood. The film is being developed and produced by Oscilloscope Laboratories, who will also release it theatrically in North America. The book looks at the incredible Best Picture Oscar nominees for 1967: Bonnie and Clyde, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, The Graduate and Dr. Doolittle. [Source: indieWire]


What happens when the Red Sox finally win the world series? Documentarian (and fan) Ken Burns returns to the topic of baseball. PBS has announced that The Tenth Inning, a new two-part, four-hour documentary by Burns and Lynn Novick that picks up where Burns’s landmark 1994 series Baseball left off, will air this September. The program is directed by Burns and Novick and written and produced by David McMahon, Novick and Burns. The film will air 16 years after the original Emmy Award-winning, nine-part documentary series debuted in 1994 during the players’ strike. The original series was seen by more than 43 million viewers, making it the most-watched program in PBS history.
     Burns said in a statement, “Baseball has changed so much in the last 15 years, but at the same time, the reason that the game is so enduring is that it is timeless. Like the original series, this film pays tribute to one of our nation’s greatest institutions. We celebrate tremendous athletic achievements and examine the humanity and diversity of the players, the dynamic relationship with the fans, and all the layers and nuances that make a seemingly simple exercise of hitting a ball with a stick infinitely fascinating.”


The Hollywood Reporter has more on the upcoming Scorsese documentary Living in the Material World: George Harrison. The filmmaker has been collaborating on the project for the past three years with Harrison's widow, Olivia, and they are hoping for a 2011 release date. After entertaining numerous documentary offers from production companies after her husband's death in 2001, Olivia decided she wanted to fulfill Harrison's desire to make a film using his own archive. She eventually hooked up with Sinclair, who produced the Scorsese-directed Bob Dylan doc No Direction Home, which led her to the master filmmaker. In the interview with the Reporter, Scorsese talks about the importance of Harrison's music, as well as relating to the musician's quest for spirituality.


In related production news, Variety reports that Endgame Entertainment is developing a dramatic feature starring Ellen Page based on Cynthia Wade's Oscar-winning short doc Freeheld. The film is being adapted by Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia), and produced by Endgame's James D. Stern, Double Feature Films' Michael Shamberg and Stacy Sher, and Vie Entertainment's Kelly Bush and Cynthia Wade. Freeheld follows the battle of Laurel Hester, a dying police officer who fights to transfer her pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree. As her elected officials, The Freeholders, stand against her, and the town explodes around her, Laurel races against time to provide for the love of her life. For more on Freeheld, watch this DocuDay Q&A with filmmaker Wade.