Hostage Saga Headed to Big Screen?

(FROM VARIETY) – Several potential projects focused on the story of the 15 hostages rescued last week in Colombia are reportedly taking shape. Ingrid Betancourt, the former Colombian presidential candidate who was kidnapped by Marxist FARC rebels while on the campaign trail in 2002, is expected to sign with French lit agent Susannah Lea and seek a book and movie deal. She has also said that she would like to write a play about her ordeal. Meanwhile, the three American contractors who were also kidnapped — Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Thomas Howes — are reportedly meeting with United Talent Agency about future deals, and producers Scott Steindorff and Phil Maloof are in talks for rights to the Colombian government's story of how it pulled off the bloodless rescue. Separately, Venezuelan actress Patricia Velasquez (The Mummy, The Mummy Returns) has landed rights to Searching for Ingrid, the memoir of Betancourt's husband, Juan Carlos Lecompte, which details his search for his wife. The 15 hostages were freed last Wednesday (July 2) after the Colombian military infiltrated the rebel group FARC and tricked its members into giving up the hostages. The entire operation was pulled off without a single shot being fired. (Variety)