The Buffalo and Erie County (N.Y.) Public Library has sold the film rights to Mark Twain’s 1876 short story “A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage” to a production company owned by actors Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.
Their company, Cosmic Entertainment, will decide whether to turn the work into a feature film, a television movie, or another format, library attorney Patrick Martin told the October 12 Buffalo News. The price of the sale was not disclosed. Proceeds will go to the Library Foundation.
“I’m pleased to reconnect with Buffalo and work with the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library to bring to life . . . one of my favorite authors and one of Buffalo’s favorite sons,” said Hawn, whose 1982 film Best Friends was shot in Buffalo.
The library also announced the results of its writing competition, in which over 520 contestants offered their own endings to the story. “I generally pursue writing on an academic level,” said winner Carolyn Korsmeyer, a philosophy professor at SUNY/Buffalo, who received the $5,000 first prize. “Fiction writing is unusual and a challenge for me.” Judges for the contest included authors Garrison Keillor and Joyce Carol Oates.
Posted October 22, 2001.