John Cusack In The Runaway Jury

John Cusack is finalizing negotiations to star in the Gary Fleder-directed courtroom thriller "The Runaway Jury" for Regency Enterprises with 20th Century Fox distributing.

Based on John Grisham's best-selling novel of the same name, published in hardcover in 1996 by Doubleday & Co., the thriller centers on a high-stakes firearms case in Biloxi, Miss., where a mysterious man (Cusack) known as Juror No. 2 takes control of the jury, holding the verdict in his hands.

Chris Mankowitz is producing the project from a script by writing pair Brian Koppelman and David Levien. Fully financed by Regency, the project is being overseen by production topper Sanford Panitch and senior vp production Peter Cramer.

Cusack, repped by WMA, most recently starred onscreen opposite Kate Beckinsale in Miramax Films' romantic comedy "Serendipity."

He recently signed on to star in the James Mangold-directed thriller "I.D." for Columbia Pictures and producer Cathy Konrad. That project is in production and also stars Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina, John C. McGinley and William Lee Scott. Cusack next stars in "Adaptation" and "Max."

A Life in Ragtime for Mace Neufeld

Producer Mace Neufeld has acquired screen rights to the Reid Badger-penned book "A Life in Ragtime," and will develop a film about Lt. James Reese Europe, a musician and WWI soldier who helped spread jazz in its early stages throughout Europe and the U.S.

Neufeld, who is prepping the fourth Jack Ryan picture "The Sum of All Fears" with Ben Affleck, sparked to the story of the composer, bandleader and musical pioneer, who packed a lot of life into 39 years. Born the son of a former slave, Europe proved to be a prodigy and became a household name in New York, where his Clef Club was the first black musicians union and its orchestra was the first black band to make recordings and the first black ragtime band to play Carnegie Hall.

He enlisted in the Army during WWI and was a machine gunner in an all black unit that, after being ostracized by white soldiers who wouldn't fight with its members, fought as part of the French army. His company, which the French called the Harlem Hellfighters, served 191 days in combat, longer than any other U.S. unit. While in France, Europe infiltrated the country with his music. At 39, while on a tour of the U.S. , Europe's knife-wielding drummer murdered him.

"This is one of the most extraordinary, inspiring and colorful true life stories I've ever come across," Neufeld said. "The movie will incorporate the flavor of the turn of the century America, the jazz age and Europe, as well as exploring the racial prejudices and conflicts present in Europe during WWI."

Black Autumn For Phoenix Pictures

Phoenix Pictures has picked up the psychological horror spec "Black Autumn" from writing pair Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan with Phoenix-based O/Z Films on board to produce. The deal includes a pay-or-play directing clause for Marcus, who directed the last installment of the "Friday the 13th" franchise, "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday."

"Black Autumn," which marks the first collaboration of the husband and wife team, centers on a young disadvantaged girl who gets accepted to an exclusive all-girls boarding school only to find out that it's run by a coven of witches.

The project, budgeted at less than $20 million, has been put on the fast track with O/Z Films' Nick Osborne producing and Trevor Engelson co-producing. Engelson is credited with bringing the project to Phoenix, where it will be shepherded by executive vp production Matt Bierman and director of development David Thwaites.

"The strength of the idea and the great creepy moments in the vein of 'Rosemary's Baby' are what drew us to the project," Bierman said. "And we connected with them on the vision of what this movie should be -- they clearly have the right vision for this project."

Marcus, who also directed "Let It Snow," is repped by ICM's Stacey Rosenfelt and Nick Reed, Overview Management's Chris Ryan and Marisa Johnston and attorney Michael Gendler. Sullivan was also repped in the deal by ICM.

Brittany Murphy "Molly Gunn" Is In Negotiations To Land Her Biggest Paycheck 

Brittany Murphy is in negotiations to land her biggest paycheck to date at low seven-figures for starring in the title role of MGM/Greene Street Films' "Molly Gunn" for director Boaz Yakin. Shooting is scheduled to start June 29 in New York.

The deal is expected to formally close today, when Murphy -- who just wrapped the 20th Century Fox romantic comedy "Just Married" opposite Ashton Kutcher for helmer Shawn Levy -- drops by MGM to meet with the studio's top executives

. In "Gunn" she will star opposite "I Am Sam" youngster Dakota Fanning and play a young socialite, Molly Gunn, who has never grasped the concept of money. When her parents die in a plane crash and her business manager runs away with her inheritance, she is forced to survive and earn an income by becoming a nanny for a precocious little girl, played by Fanning.

The project, scripted by Julia Dahl, is budgeted in the $20 million range. GreeneStreet partner John Penotti is producing. At MGM, production president Alex Gartner is overseeing along with senior vp production Elizabeth Cantillon.

Murphy has been on a roll lately, booking back-to-back leading roles. Following her first leading-lady part in "Married," she will segue into the Spike Lee-directed "25th Hour" for the Walt Disney Co. and then to "Gunn." She also recently wrapped a starring role opposite Eminem in the Curtis Hanson-helmed "8 Mile" for Universal Pictures, set for release later this year.

Her other credits include "Riding in Cars With Boys," "Don't Say a Word," "Sidewalks of New York," "Girl, Interrupted" and "Clueless."

Murphy is repped by ICM, AMG and attorney Patti Felker at Nelson, Felker, Levine & Dern.

New Line Cinema Script Deals

New Line Cinema made a preemptive spec script deal for "Alone," a ghost story that scared up a mid-six-figure advance for rookie scribe Kevin Taft.

"Alone" revolves around an agoraphobic high school student who learns her home is haunted and must either overcome her phobia or die.

Taft has been working in the Screen Actors Guild benefits office and as a bartender while he tried for more than a decade to sell a script. He finally broke through when he came upon the agoraphobic storyline and married it to the horror genre.

New Line Cinema has optioned young-adult author Dyan Sheldon's novel "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" and has attached scribe Gail Parent ("Cadet Kelly") and thesp Hilary Duff.

"Confessions" centers on a teenage girl who moves from Greenwich Village to a suburban high school and upsets the established order there. Sheldon also penned "My Life as a Whale," a young-adult novel that several film companies have optioned. Duff starred in the Disney Channel's "Lizzy McGuire" and the Disney movie "Cadet Kelly."

Outbidding two rival studios, New Line Cinema has acquired the spec script "The Crossing" from the writing team of Phil DeBlasi and Byron Willinger.

The studio paid mid-six against low-seven figures for the script, which is described as a female-driven actionerc in the vein of "Breakdown." It will be produced by Max Wong and Karen Firestone at Pink Slip Pictures.

New Line production execs Stokely Chaffin and Keith Wolpert will oversee for the studio. "Crossing" is just the second script from the writing team of DeBlasi and Willinger and the second to be sold. Their first, a haunted house thriller titled "Red Hollow," was sold to Arnold Kopelson Prods.

Pink Slip also is attached to produce "Hollow." DeBlasi and Willinger are repped by Genesis Literary Agency.

Also New Line is in final talks to buy "No Place Like Home," a spec by Margaret Heidenry. The story concerns an upwardly mobile, cocky New Yorker with the world at his fingertips and a deep aversion to his parents. But when his life falls apart and he breaks up with his girlfriend, he ends up moving into their house in Long Island.

"It's very funny," said producer Neal Edelstein, who will develop the project with Mike Macari. "But it also has a lot of heart in a Frank Capra style."

"Home" is the first spec sale for Heidenry, a former student at the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women. But it's not her first development deal. After completing the AFI program a few years back, she wangled a meeting with one of its supporters, Sony Pictures CEO John Calley, and sold him a pitch called "Amazing Jane." That project remains in development.

Iain Softley To Direct 'Shanghai'

Filmmaker Iain Softley is set to direct "Shanghai" for Miramax Films and Phoenix Pictures. "Shanghai," described as a dramatic spy project, centers on an American intelligence agent in Shanghai during WWII who becomes involved with the wife of a local drug lord only to be discovered by a Japanese military official.

Hossein Amini penned the screenplay with a rewrite by Becky Johnston. Mike Medavoy and Barry Mendel will produce with Arnie Messer executive producing.

There is no talent yet attached, but the project is said to have drawn interest from several A-list actors.

Softley, repped by ICM, helmed last year's Kevin Spacey starrer "K-PAX," "The Wings of the Dove," "Hackers" and "Backbeat."

Legal: Journalist Nikki Finke Sues Disney, N.Y. Post

Journalist Nikki Finke launched a $10 million suit against News Corp.'s New York Post and Walt Disney Co., claiming she was fired from the newspaper at the behest of Disney, after writing stories about the Mouse House's long-running Winnie the Pooh litigation.

The suit, filed late Friday in L.A. Superior Court, alleges an unholy alliance between two media giants with close business and personal ties.

One mystery is that other publications, including Daily Variety, covered the Pooh case long before Finke. The 11-year-old case involves a multimillion-dollar royalty dispute with the Slesinger family, which owns a partial license to the Pooh characters.

According to the complaint, Finke filed two stories on the Pooh case on Jan. 28, shortly after the court records were unsealed. The stories ran under the headlines "Pooh Scandal is 'Shred Hot"' and "Deep Pooh-Pooh" and showed an illustration of Mickey Mouse feeding documents into a shredder. The story also contains a reference to Arthur Andersen and the just-breaking Enron scandal.

Finke claims the headlines, illustration and use of the word "shred" in the story were added without her approval.

Finke's attorney, Pierce O'Donnell, said, "In the annals of journalism this has to rank as one of the supreme acts of cowardice by a newspaper owner currying favor with a major advertiser and business partner. Nikki Finke is the innocent victim of a colossal abuse of corporate power."

O'Donnell also represented Variety in 1999 in its successful effort to open the Katzenberg trial to the public over Disney's objections.

Finke stories infuriated Disney chairman-CEO Michael Eisner, chief operating officer Robert Iger, as well as John Dreyer, Disney's head of communications, who is being sued personally.

Finke was fired Feb. 19. She alleges that the Post never told her what errors she made and has never run a correction. She claims the only reason given for her termination was that Disney complained about the stories.

The suit also alleges that after Finke was fired, Fox News, which is owned by News Corp., allowed Disney attorney Dan Petrocelli to give a one-sided interview on "The O'Reilly Factor." Bert Fields, who along with Bonnie Eskenazi represents the Slesinger family, was refused an appearance on the show.

Daily Variety reported in May 2001 and in early January 2002 that Disney had destroyed 40 boxes of documents relating to the litigation, including a file labeled "Pooh Legal Problems," and that the company had been fined $90,000. It also reported that the Slesingers were seeking to terminate Disney's license as a possible remedy.

Finke's complaint ascribes her treatment to the timing of her stories -- 21 days before Disney's annual shareholder meeting, where Eisner had to address the company's abysmal stock price -- and the "tone" of the stories.  Disney declined comment Sunday.