Hey, Hey, Hey -- 'Fat Albert' Stalled

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/08/2002 at 01:04 PM EDT

Two separate events in the lives of two major media figures: Bill Cosby and CBS newsman Mike Wallace. First, Cosby. Late last week the brakes were slammed on the pre-production of 20th Century Fox's live-action feature "Fat Albert," based on the 1970s cartoon created by Bill Cosby, 64, and starring newcomer Omar Benson Miller as the troublemaking Albert, says the Hollywood Reporter. Filming was scheduled to begin this month. The studio informed the trade paper that the halt is only temporary and is due to a conflict of visions between Cosby, who penned the screenplay with Charles Kipps, and the film's director, Forest Whitaker. "(Forest) and Bill truly had creative differences in the way they see the movie going -- it's just about directionally seeing the movie differently," Fox spokesman Jeffrey Godsick said. "It's an amicable departure, and, at this point, it's just been put on hiatus." There's a search on for a possible new director, Godsick added. Meanwhile, in TV news of a more serious nature, The New York Times reported in its Monday editions that "60 Minutes" icon (and noted workaholic) Mike Wallace, who turns 84 in May, is cutting back on his workload on the newsmagazine he helped launch in 1968. "He's still looking for the story that will define his career -- as if he hasn't done several hundred of them," said colleague Steve Kroft, 56. "He thinks some people don't take him seriously as a journalist."