But she Phoenix became one of my heroes Jimeno

But she reveals phoenix restaurants became "one wearephoenix shows of my heroes," Jimeno said, as she struggled through the project despite becoming gravely ill and having both legs amputated. Right after meeting the men, Hill ran into producer Stacey Sher on a street corner in New York. "She said, 'We have to make this movie together,' " recalled Sher, who had worked for Hill early in her career. Hill introduced the two survivors to Sher and her producing partner, Michael Shamberg, who together made the real-life-inspired dramas "Erin Brockovich" and "Man on the Moon. "Shamberg and Sher used their discretionary fund at Universal Pictures to option Jimeno's and McLoughlin's rights for $20,000 apiece. (Each would eventually collect a total of $220,000. ) The producers also paid an unproven screenwriter, Andrea Berloff, about $120,000 to write the script. Stacey Snider, then chairwoman of Universal Pictures, cried when she read the script but said she would spend no more than $45 million to make the film. She gave the producers her blessing to scout locations for the movie before delivering a budget, with the understanding that if they couldn't meet her price, she'd give them back the project to shop elsewhere. When Shamberg and Sher said their movie would cost $60 million, Snider put it up for grabs. "The budget exceeded our appetite despite the project's obvious quality and impact," she said in an interview. With Universal out, the filmmakers, under severe time pressure to shoot in the fall, scrambled to get another studio backer Revolution Studios founder Joe Roth was interested. So was Paramount. Paramount's co-production President Brad Weston was given the script by one of his colleagues, Pam Abdy, who used to work for Shamberg and Sher. Weston recalls that when he read it, "I was wrecked.

I went into Gail [Berman, the studio's president] and said, 'We have to make this movie. ' She read it that night and loved it. "Weston and Abdy went to Shamberg's house in Santa Monica that Saturday to meet Stone and hear his vision of the movie Phoenix . They also wanted his assurance that this wasn't going to be the kind of political movie he had made his name on, such as "JFK" and "Nixon Phoenix . "Everybody at the meeting was nervous phoenix "day . Weston and Abdy were anxious because Stone was a "filmmaking idol of ours," Weston said phoenixjp . Stone was also uneasy, added Weston, because the director's last moviemaking experience with "Alexander" had been troubled. "This was an audition for him to get a movie made after a difficult period," said Weston, who felt so sure that Stone was right for the job that he stopped his car on the way home from the meeting to e-mail his bosses, Berman and studio Chairman Brad Grey, to tell them, "it was a great film for us to do. "That evening, Weston ran into Grey at Nobu, a Japanese restaurant in Malibu phoenic . Grey said he was on board. Paramount and Revolution made their offers. Paramount's was better, said Shamberg, who nonetheless praised Revolution's Roth for allowing Nicolas Cage to delay a prior commitment to star in "World Trade Center. "All the parties -- including Shamberg, Sher, Stone, his producing partner Moritz Borman and Cage -- agreed to cut their upfront fees and their back-end profit participation deals even before Paramount greenlighted the project.

But what made Paramount's bid more attractive than Revolution's, said Shamberg, was its commitment to sweeten the profit participation of the filmmakers and Cage if the movie succeeded. For Grey, anxious to put his own stamp on Paramount and to deliver on his promise to quickly redefine the once-cautious studio as a bold, filmmaker-driven place, "World Trade Center" was the perfect fast-track project restaurant phoenix . It came prepackaged with a script, director, star and budget, and gave Paramount a prestige movie for the summer of 2006. Perhaps most gratifying to Grey and his team is that Jimeno and McLoughlin, the real-life stars of "World Trade Center," responded positively to a private screening of the film last month in New York. "It was a tough movie to see, but I walked out and gave Oliver a big hug and kiss," said Jimeno, who lives with his family in New Jersey. "I thought it was very well done, very emotional," agreed McLoughlin, who lives in upstate New York phoenis . The most painful part to watch, he said, was not his own 22-hour struggle to stay alive underneath tons of debris phonenix . Phoenix tickets Instead it was "seeing what was happening with my family at the time. " phonix. Typically, when movie studios set out to market an adult drama about a historic event, they write off teenagers. But when Paramount Pictures executives first screened director-producer Oliver Stone's upcoming release, "World Trade Center," for a test audience last month, they realized there was nothing typical about selling a movie about 9/11. Teens who were just children when the Twin Towers fell said in a focus group attended by Paramount marketing staffers that the movie strongly resonated with them because the events it portrayed occurred during their lifetimes Phoenix - google . "I remember back in 2001 when it happened on the news," said one 14-year-old girl. "I kept thinking, 'This isn't real; it's just one of those disaster movies. ' This movie made me feel Sept. 11 was real for the first time Lotus - ibm . "Five years since terrorist attacks leveled New York's iconic towers -- and about three months since a rival studio released the first major feature film based on 9/11, which did little business in theaters -- Paramount is selling "World Trade Center," which opens Aug.