Bill Todman has joined real estate titan Edward Milstein to option film rights a trio thrillers

Veteran producer Bill Todman has joined with Gotham real estate titan Edward Milstein to option film rights to a trio of bestselling thrillers by Victor O'Reilly.

The titles that Todman and Milstein will develop are "Games of the Hangman," "Rules of the Hunt" and "The Devil's Footprint."

The first book in the series, "Hangman," is set in the U.S., Ireland and Switzerland, as a terrorist named Hangman plays a cat-and-mouse game with the hero, ex-Special Forces operative Hugo Fitzduane. The next two continue with Fitzduane in different global adventures.

The producers plan to draw from all three books for a movie they hope will lead to a franchise, and the author is working on the fourth installment of the series.

Scribe O'Reilly has a strong feel for the subject matter: He is an adviser to the vice chief of the U.S. Army.

While Todman has been making films for years -- he most recently partnered with Billy Gerber and Joel Simon to produce the Michael Douglas-Albert Brooks starrer "Till Death Do Us Part" for Warner Bros. and Franchise Pictures -- Milstein is making his first foray into the feature game.

Milstein is a member of the billionaire family that owns Emigrant Bank, acres of Gotham real estate and, until recently, the New York Islanders hockey team. Milstein and Todman are lifelong friends who've wanted to work on a movie together.

Jon Favreau To Rewrite And Direct The 'Elf' Script For NL

Jon Favreau is in final negotiations to rewrite and direct the Will Ferrell vehicle "Elf" for New Line Cinema.

In the film, originally based on a spec script by David Berenbaum, Ferrell is attached to star as Buddy, a man raised from in-fancy by elves at the North Pole. After inadvertently yet continually wreaking havoc on the elf community, Buddy is sent back to New York to be reunited with his biological father. With the sincere intention of fitting in, Buddy proceeds to turn his father's life upside down.

"Elf" is being produced by Jon Berg and Todd Komarnicki through their Guy Walks Into a Bar production-management company and executive produced by Jimmy Miller and Julie Wixon of Mosaic Media Group.

"Elf" originally was brought into New Line by senior vp production Kent Alterman, who is overseeing the project with creative executive Cale Boyter.

For Favreau, the project marks the second major studio release on which he will serve as writer-director after last year's "Made."

"We met with a lot of directors, but Jon immediately sparked to the material with a take that was compelling and a comedic sensibility that was a perfect fit for Will," Alterman said. "We hope this will be a big family Christmas movie that works on many levels, much in the way 'The Simpsons' TV series does. And Jon really proved he has the ability to do that in 'Made.' "

In addition to "Elf," the multihyphenate Favreau is host of the Independent Film Channel talk show series "Dinner for Five." Favreau is repped by Endeavor.

Steven Jay Rubin Has Optioned Jake and Monica's Panic Attack

Steven Jay Rubin, executive producer of the recent Showtime made-for-TV movie "Bleacher Bums," has optioned Gary Goldstein's comedy spec "Jake and Monica's Panic Attack" as a feature project for his Fast Carrier Pictures.

Goldstein's romantic comedy, written in the style of "Analyze This" and "Meet the Parents," involves two neurotic, mismatched therapy patients who spend a chaotic day in Manhattan searching for their missing therapist.

Fast Carrier, which has a first-look TV deal at Showtime, has the Jerry Lewis remake "The Errand Boy" in development at Disney and "Combat!" at Paramount. Goldstein previously wrote the Eternity Pictures romantic comedy "If You Only Knew," which starred Johnathon Schaech and Alison Eastwood.

Gretchen Mol and Kathleen Robertson power Fox 'Girls Club'

Gretchen Mol and Kathleen Robertson have joined "Girls Club." They are set to play two of the three central characters in David E. Kelley's new dramedy series for Fox from 20th Century Fox TV that centers on a trio of young female attorneys who share a loft in San Francisco.

The project, which has an on-air commitment from the network, co-stars Giancarlo Esposito.

Kelley created "Girls Club" and will executive produce. Jack Bender ("Boston Public") will serve as a consulting producer on the pilot and as co-executive producer from the second episode on.

Mol's feature credits include "Rounders," "Sweet and Lowdown" and the upcoming "The Shape of Things." The actress, most recently seen in A&E's "The Magnificent Ambersons," is repped by the Gersh Agency and Catch 23.

Robertson, who spent three years on "Beverly Hills, 90210," was recently on the big screen in "Scary Movie 2." She is repped by the Gersh Agency and Untitled Entertainment.

Meanwhile, CBS has pushed the Studios USA/CBS Prods. comedy pilot "The Lunchbox Chronicles" to midseason.

Shoot-'Em-Up Game "Max Payne" For The Big Screen

The creator of the hit FX cop series "The Shield" has signed a deal to adapt the shoot-'em-up video game "Max Payne" for the big screen.

"Payne" concerns an undercover DEA agent out to avenge the murder of his wife and child -- a complicated endeavor, since he's been set up for the death of a fellow narc in Gotham.

"Max Payne is an incredible character with a rabid fan base," said Shawn Ryan, who will adapt the property for Dimension Films. "As a writer and a gamer, I was ecstatic when (Dimension chief) Bob Weinstein offered me the opportunity to pen this potential franchise."

Released for PC, Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox, the game has sold more than 1.8 million units worldwide since its release last fall.

Weinstein praised Ryan for having "shown a great, edgy new voice with his characters" and added, "We look forward to being a part of his successful transition to film."

Critically acclaimed, "The Shield" scored the most watched original series premiere in cable history. Before "The Shield," Ryan was a producer on the series "Angel." He began his primetime career on "Nash Bridges," rising to co-producer during his three-year tenure. He also worked on Fox's animated series "Life With Louie."

Artisan gets into series TV at NBC

In its first big push into broadcast series development, Artisan Entertainment has clinched a deal with NBC for two blind pilot script commitments.

Under the terms of the deal, the network agrees to develop a pair of still-undetermined scripts as possible pilots, giving Artisan an important jump on development for the 2003-04 season.

The pact comes as Artisan, which has produced highly rated original movies for network and cable, is ramping up its involvement in episodic TV. The company said it has more than 50 hours of series and longform projects in various stages of development at major networks.

Artisan Pictures CEO Bob Cooper said he sees the NBC deal as a significant step toward the company's producing "a couple of event series, series that really leverage a kind of signature the company is starting to have, with commercial, edgy, outside-the-box thinking."

Artisan Pictures is an operating division of privately held Santa Monica-based Artisan Entertainment. The video division, Artisan Home Entertainment, controls a catalog of 7,000 titles, ranging from "It's a Wonderful Life" to "Basic Instinct."

Cooper, the former president of HBO Pictures, joined the company in September when he merged Landscape Entertainment, which he founded, with Artisan. Since then, Artisan -- well-known as a purveyor of independent theatrical fare like "The Blair Witch Project" -- has sharply increased its presence in network and cable television.

In October, Artisan's "Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three-Hour Tour in History," generated strong ratings for CBS. The telefilm averaged an impressive 5.9 rating/13 share in the 18-49 demo, winning the two-hour time slot against competition that included ABC's "The Practice" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" on NBC. The project was one that Cooper brought over from Landscape in the merger.

Earlier this month, Artisan announced "Ozzie, Harriet and the Nelson Family" -- the first authorized biopic of the clan behind the '50s TV classic -- also for CBS.

Meanwhile, shooting began in Toronto this week for "R.F.K.," an original film for FX based on the life of Robert F. Kennedy. Artisan is producing with Fox Television Studios, where it has a deal for longform television. British actor Linus Roache plays the title role.

Music: Univision Closes Fonovisa Record Label Buy

 Univision Communications Inc., the No. 1 U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster, on Thursday said it had completed the acquisition of the Fonovisa record label, a deal that will make it one of the top players in the music industry targeting U.S. Latinos.

In December, Univision reached a deal with Mexico's Grupo Televisa that included programming and the acquisition of the Fonovisa label in a further move to extend its reach of U.S. Hispanics, a group now exceeding 35 million and with an estimated annual spending power of $500 billion.

Fonovisa Records will now be under the Univision Music Group (UMG) umbrella, led by music empresario Jose Behar, responsible for catapulting to fame such Latino stars like the late Tex-Mex queen Selena. UMG is expected to hold a 35 percent of the market share in the United States and Puerto Rico. UMG will now sell records of three different labels.

Univision Music will focus on all genres and include artist such as Mexico's pop singer Pilar Montenegro. Fonovisa Records will target the regional Mexican segment with artists like Los Tigres del Norte, famed for their songs about drug lords, or narcocorridos.

Disa Records, where UMG owns 50 percent, will focus on more tropical acts like Los Angeles Azules. UMG expects to move its headquarters to Woodland Hills, California, in the summer.

Literary: Talk Miramax Picks Up Tarantino's Debut Novel

Talk Miramax Books has acquired worldwide publishing rights to "Kill Bill," the first novel from filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.

Tarantino also wrote the screenplay "Kill Bill" and will direct the movie for Miramax beginning in mid-June. The picture, starring David Carradine, Uma Thurman, Daryl Hannah and Lucy Liu, will shoot in Los Angeles, Mexico, Tokyo and Beijing. The movie will be released in fall 2003, while the novel will reach bookstores next spring.

"'Kill Bill' is a novel, a cinematic novel," Tarantino said. "I'm moving away from screenplay format, keeping what I do like of the form and throwing away what I don't. I write tons of prose. It's all about the page; it's the writer in me. 'Kill Bill' is not a novelization. It functions as a script, and it functions as a novel, but it's not a script and it's not a novelization. It's something in the middle that gets across my writing style as its purest."

Jonathan Burnham, president and editor-in-chief of Talk Miramax Books, added: "Quentin Tarantino is a stunning storyteller with a gift for dialogue that burns up the page as much it does the screen. Dark and brilliantly funny, 'Kill Bill' is going to be an extraordinary fictional debut."

The novel tells the story of a bride who is presumed dead after she is shot at her own wedding reception. She wakes from a coma five years later and embarks on a killing spree, avenging herself by taking out the people responsible for her shooting.

The screenplay for Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" was published by Miramax Books in 1994 and sold more than 150,000 copies, remaining one of the best-selling screenplays to date. Talk Miramax Books also will publish the "Kill Bill" screenplay.

Talk Miramax Books is the publisher of best-selling novelists Martin Amis, Christopher Rice and Michael Chabon and recent bestsellers "The Snow Garden," "Stolen Lives" and "Artemis Fowl."

'Imagemovers', Zemeckis Production Company Stays at DreamWorks

Imagemovers, the production company headed by Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis, is staying put at DreamWorks, despite a lack of big hits. After seriously flirting late last year with a new pact at Warner Bros., the company has signed on at DreamWorks for at least another four years, a key source said.

The deal keeps Zemeckis -- as well as partners Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey -- in business with his longtime pal and DreamWorks co-owner Steven Spielberg, who actively lobbied to prevent Imagemovers from packing its bags.

The pair teamed on an array of productions over the years, many of them successful, but Imagemovers' current five-year deal has yielded only "Cast Away" and "What Lies Beneath." Both were directed Zemeckis, and while both hit big, they were shared-pot deals with Fox.

The producers have developed a lot of other projects during their first term at DreamWorks, but it is unclear whether any of them will get made soon.

The no-go at Warners comes when Zemeckis and partners have two high-profile projects that will be distributed by that studio. Zemeckis is rejoining "Cast Away" cohorts Tom Hanks and scribe William Broyles in "Polar Express," a mix of computer animation and live-action that Zemeckis will direct. Hanks' Playtone Prods. is developing the project at WB-based Castle Rock.

Another Imagemovers project at Warner Bros., the adaptation of Eric Garcia's novel "Matchstick Men," has just crystallized as the next directing project for "Black Hawk Down" director Ridley Scott.

Neither Imagemovers nor DreamWorks would comment on the new deal or why the once-certain WB pact came undone.

The most prevalent theory is that Imagemovers' pricey overhead deal left WB brass choking. Other sources pointed to Zemeckis' tie with Spielberg, who has been working with the director since the latter was a film student at USC.

Their relationship extended to the profitable "Back to the Future" trilogy, which Zemeckis directed for Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment at Universal. After signing on with the nascent DreamWorks, Imagemovers was built an expensive bungalow of offices in Amblin's Universal lot headquarters.