Altman project in turmoil

The future looks bleak for the film that Robert Altman was about to start work on.

Nov 22 2006

The death of Robert Altman has thrown Picturehouse's fictional take on the 1997 documentary 'Hands on a Hard Body' into chaos.

Altman was due to produce and direct the flick, about a competition in which a group of contestants compete to win a truck by keeping their hand on it for the longest.

The legendary helmer was planning a character-driven story about the effect the contest has on a small Texas town and its inhabitants, and his untimely death has put the project in turnaround.

'It's going to be very tough' Picturehouse chief Ben Berney told Variety. 'This was conceived as a Robert Altman film, and I'm not sure there can be any other way to do it.'

• 
•