IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD. The sequel is five MADS!!!!! It's been 40 years since $350,000 burst out of an old suitcaseand fluttered away in breeze - 40 years since fourteen "would be" treasure hunters were sent to prison for a rampage of mayhem and destruction in Southern California - 40 years of bitter memories of being "so close" to wealth and seeing it slip away - 40 years of wanting for a second chance... A Kramer-Bass production. Kramer, Bobby producer Bass Set Long-Awaited Mad, Mad ... World Sequel Follow-up to six-time Oscar-nominated comedy classic planned featuring today's top stars and script Stanely Kramer wrote shortly before he died. Original starred Berle, Caesar, Tracy, Winters, Rooney, Reiner, Benny, Lewis, 20 more legends. Los Angeles, CA (PRWeb) January 9, 2007 -- Karen Sharpe Kramer and Golden Globe nominated producer Edward Bass ( Bobby ), after more than fifteen years, have finally decided to go forward with their highly-anticipated sequel to Stanley Kramer's 1963 six-time Oscar-nominated comedy classic, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World! "For the past two years I've been developing a whole new set of cars - most of which will probably get destroyed because the stunts are gonna be incredible!" "I knew the timing was right for the sequel when "Bobby" became a nominee for the top Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards - it was like synchronicity, says Kramer. Not only because Bass proved himself with an all-star ensemble cast, as there will be in this new picture. But because when 'Mad World' debuted in 1963 Bobby Kennedy was there in attendance. Plus people just won't stop asking me when I will do this and can they be in it!" Called "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World!," the project is a sequel to the original Mad World all-star epic that producer/director Stanley Kramer vowed would be the comedy that would end all comedies. And like the original, the Five-Mad's sequel will throw today's top dramatic actors into the same talent mix with the funniest comedy actors on the planet. Stanley Kramer himself wrote the treatment and a partial script before his death in 2001. Karen Kramer and Bass plan to credit him as the third producer on the project. Bass said, This will always be Stanley Kramer's 'Mad World.' Bass' relationship with the sequel began in 1991 when he produced the Mad World documentary, Something a Little Less Serious, with Stanley Kramer. We began work on the sequel but then Stanley became ill and we had to put the project on hold, Bass remembers. Later, Karen produced the remake of Stanley's High Noon and the launched the worldwide release of the 40th Anniversary of Mad World at the Cinerama Dome in 2003 with great success. With the serious events facing our world today the time is right for a wacky comedy like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World! Everyone I've talked to gets excited about this film and knows the original surprisingly well, said Kramer, longtime wife of Stanley. Billy Crystal said he saw it repeatedly when he was young and it helped get him through a tough time. Which makes sense, as the original ran for a year and a half after the Kennedy assassination and the laughter it generated was credited by some as 'helping heal a nation.' Ironically, John and Jacqueline Kennedy were to attend our premiere, but sent Bobby and went to Dallas instead. In the original Mad World, virtually every lead, supporting, and bit part in the picture is filled by a well-known comic or dramatic actor including: Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Spencer Tracy, Jonathan Winters, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Phil Silvers, Carl Reiner, Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, The Three Stooges, Ethel Merman, Don Knotts, Jim Backus, Edie Adams and many more. Stanley Kramer spared no expense (the $7 million price tag was a hefty one at the time) on the spectacular stunts, using 39 stunt men to create some of the most incredible feats on film. George Barris, the man who created the Batmobile, Knightrider and vehicles for Blade Runner, says of the new Mad World, For the past two years I've been developing a whole new set of cars - most of which will probably get destroyed because the stunts are gonna be incredible! Legendary comedian Sid Caesar, who appeared in the original said, Mad World has this enduring thing because it is about the truth. It's truth! Everything there is truth. It actually could be true! Carl Reiner said, The original Mad World showed the industry and the public that you can make an expensive movie… a large lavish movie, and have it be a comedy…and work. Kramer added, Now is the time to make this picture while members of the original film can still appear in cameos, like Winters, Rooney, Caesar, Adams, Reiner, Falk, Lewis and others. Also in the original were Dick Shawn, Ben Blue, Terry-Thomas, Arnold Stang, William Demarest, Andy Devine, Norman Fell, Sterling Holloway, Marvin Kaplan, Zasu Pitts, Stan Freberg and Leo Gorcey. She is also the impetus behind of the Stanley Kramer Award, given each year by the Producers Guild of America. This year's statue will be presented by Harrison Ford for former Vice President Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. It will be bestowed at the PGA Awards on January 20 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. This is not Rat Race - which was done by outsiders mimicking the original, with the tag 'Rad, Rad, Rad, Rad World', says Bass, who is also executive producing a new Kim Basinger film, While She Was Out . This is a sequel where the Big 'W' takes on a whole new meaning and the descendants of the original characters hack, claw and connive their ways to new heights of degradation. We'll have thirty to forty of the biggest comedians and actors in this film. "It's a wonderfully crazy & colorful "chase" comedy!" The New York Times ...an explosive motion picture experience... Variety "An all-star epic... one of the zippiest of its length ever made..." USA Today Race Is On for 'Mad, Mad, Mad' Sequel Backstage.com January 09, 2007 By Borys Kit "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" just got a little madder. Ed Bass, one of the producers behind Bobby, and Karen Sharpe Kramer, the widow of Mad World director Stanley Kramer, have teamed to make a sequel to the comedy classic. Titled It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World, the film would be, like the 1963 film, a large ensemble movie mixing comics and dramatic actors. The story follows the descendants of the characters from the first movie who are thrust into another madcap chase to find a cache of money after it is revealed that the money found in the first movie was counterfeit. Bass' relationship with the sequel began in 1991 when he produced the Mad World documentary Something a Little Less Serious with Stanley Kramer. The two began planning a sequel, but Kramer became ill, and the project was put on hold. Kramer died in 2001. A sequel was further derailed when Paramount released 2001's Rat Race, which had a similar concept. Bass reconnected last year with Karen Sharpe Kramer -- who held the rights and had produced a TV remake of her husband's Western classic High Noon -- when making Bobby. The Robert F. Kennedy biopic is recently nominated for a SAG Award for best ensemble as well as a Golden Globe for best motion picture drama. "I wanted to do a follow-up to 'Bobby,' which had a one of the best casts ever assembled, and was wondering what to do next, Bass said. Then I learned that Bobby (Kennedy) was at the premiere of 'Mad World' back in '63. I said, All right, all the signs are there." No director is attached, and Bass and Kramer plan to finance the pic independently. The duo want the sequel to be have an even bigger cast than the original, and they hope to involve actors from the original movie. Now is the time to make this picture while members of the original film can still appear in cameos, said Kramer, referring to such cast members as Jonathan Winters, Mickey Rooney, Sid Caesar, Edie Adams, Carl Reiner, Peter Falk and Jerry Lewis. George Barris -- the car designer and car customizer behind such famed screen vehicles as the Batmobile, the Monkeemobile and KITT, the car from Knight Rider -- is designing cars for the movie. 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World' rumors fly movies.monstersandcritics.com By Stone Martindale Jan 10, 2007, 17:38 GMT Reuters has posted news that made my day. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, the lateStanley Kramer directed 1963 film that had the coolest cast ever, which included the brilliant and underrated Dick Shawn, Spencer Tracy, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, The Three Stooges, Don Knotts...I could go on...has Producer Ed Bass of Bobby and director Stanley Kramer's widow, Karen Sharpe Kramer, teaming up to make a sequel to the comedy classic. The sequel is said to be titled It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World, the film would replicate a large ensemble cast that mixed stand-up comics and actors. The story will focus on the descendants of the characters from the first movie who are in yet another madcap chase to find a treasure trove of money, after it is revealed that the money found in the first Mad, Mad was counterfeit. This film has been in development hell since 1991 - with several issues holding back its production, including Kramer's passing. No director is attached yet, and Reuters states Bass and Kramer will finance the picture independently. There is rumor they hope to involve living actors from the original movie in some roles. Mickey Rooney, Sid Caesar, Edie Adams, Stan Freberg, Carl Reiner, Jerry Lewis and Jonathan Winters are still with us. George Barris was the car designer and customizer behind screen vehicles the Batmobile, the Monkeemobile and KITT, the car from Knight Rider and is designing cars for the movie, according to Reuters. 'It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' sequel in the works Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 (EST) in sawfnews.com Director Stanley Kramer's widow, Karen Sharpe Kramer, is planning to bring his cult comedy 'It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' back to the big screen. Washington, Jan. 10: Director Stanley Kramer's widow, Karen Sharpe Kramer, is planning to bring his cult comedy It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World back to the big screen. She also wants George Clooney and Donald Trump to join the existing cast members from the 1963 original in the new film. For producing a sequel to the hit movie, Karen has joined forces with Bobby producer Ed Bass. She made up her mind to make a sequel to the masterpiece only after discovering how popular her late husband's film still is, during a 40th anniversary tour in 2003. She also said that she would pay tribute to the comics from the original who have since passed away, by featuring clips of them in the new movie, that she wanted the new movie to also feature US cultural icons like former President Bill Clinton and property tycoon Donald Trump. Kramer is also thinking of persuading Reiner's Ocean's Eleven castmates Clooney and Brad Pitt to join the star-studded sequel line-up. I presented George with the Stanley Kramer Award for Good Night + Good Luck in 2006 and he's a big fan of my husband's work. I'd like to find him just the right role in the sequel, Contact music quoted her as saying. We won't be doing this for the money, but for the spirit, so I'm hoping that, like 'Bobby', a number of stars will want to play a part, she added. (ANI) Stanley Kramer's Widow Plans Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Sequel The Post Chronicle By Staff Jan 10, 2007 The widow of the late Stanley Kramer is bringing the director's cult comedy It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World back to the big screen, and she wants George Clooney and Donald Trump to join the existing cast members from the 1963 original in the new film. Karen Sharpe Kramer has joined forces with Bobby producer Ed Bass to shape a sequel to the hit movie after discovering just how popular her late husband's film still is during a 40th anniversary tour in 2003. Stars like Mickey Rooney, Carl Reiner and Jerry Lewis, who starred in the original, have been urging her to revisit the masterpiece for years, and now she's ready to plan a sequel. More upcoming projects: ROSA: Oscar Winning Director Marleen Gorris and first time writer Athena Stensland. FRANCOIS: Director Barry Primus and first time writer Vinnie Curdo. REDEMPTION. Continuing our tradition of first time directors: WHILE SHE WAS OUT: starring Kim Basinger. Executive Producer Edward Bass. Shoots February 2007. THE HUNT: a Mailer-Bass production. Writer/Director: Jeremy Workman Script: TheHunt_042407.pdf Facts about Human Trafficking: Trafficking in PersonsStats.pdf HONEYMOON: Eric Reiffsteck co-written Edward Bass. ISOLATION. In development: WINDFALL: the story of the Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal. THE 1 2 3: the famed brothel of Paris closed after the Nazi occupation. NELLIE BLY: the first female Pulitzer Prize winner.