Bon Jovi to produce 'Almost Home'

Rocker returns to film with book adaptation

By PHIL GALLO

 

Bon Jovi

Jon Bon Jovi is re-entering the film business, this time as a producer.

Bon Jovi and his music managers Jack Rovner and Ken Levitan have optioned Jessica Blank's fiction debut "Almost Home."

Bon Jovi, Rovner and Levitan will produce; Blank and her husband, Erik Jensen, have begun work on the screenplay.

"Almost Home" concerns a group of homeless teens in Los Angeles struggling to find themselves. Disney's Hyperion Books for Children will publish it Oct. 23.

Rovner and Levitan are principals in Vector Management and Vector Recordings. Besides Bon Jovi, Vector management clients include Kings of Leon, Steve Winwood and Lyle Lovett; their label has issued recordings by Damien Rice and Herbie Hancock, among others.

Blank and Jensen previously teamed on the play "The Exonerated," which was later turned into a film. The two also are actors and appeared in ESPN's "The Bronx Is Burning," with Jensen portraying Thurman Munson.

While Bon Jovi has acted in "Pay It Forward," "U-571," "The Leading Man" and several TV shows, this would be his first venture behind the camera. Neither Levitan nor Rovner have any film credits.

Date in print: Wed., Aug. 29, 2007, Gotham

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117971018.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562