Mark Canton and MGM Chasing the Dime

In the first deal engineered by Mark Canton since he assumed the reins of Artists Production Group last month, the company has partnered with MGM to option "Chasing the Dime," the latest novel from bestselling crime writer Michael Connelly.

The book is the story of an L.A. computer researcher who becomes obsessed with a missing woman whose former phone number is randomly assigned to him. His private investigation leads him through the murky world of online adult entertainment. Connelly is a former L.A. Times crime reporter and author of such books as "The Black Echo" and "Concrete Blonde." MGM will finance and distribute the picture worldwide.

"When I heard about Michael Connelly's 'Chasing the Dime' early last week, I immediately knew it was a film that I wanted APG to produce," Canton said. "I firmly believe that with the resources that both MGM and APG bring to the table, the end result will be a compelling, high-energy, audience-pleasing motion picture."

RAW Entertainment Has Picked up Mr. Mysterious

Production shingle RAW Entertainment has paid low- against mid-six figures to pick up Brandon Bodie Beaver's spec script "Mr. Mysterious," with Simon West's Wychwood Prods. attached to produce.

The gothic action/fantasy, set in the 1880s, concerns a blind, rogueish magician and his traveling troupe of carnival performers who are forced to return to London to stop an evil sorcerer from implementing an ancient alchemist's plan to plague the world with black magic.

West most recently directed "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" for Paramount Pictures. He also was one of the executive producers on Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down."

L.A.-based RAW is in post-production on the Newman/Tooley production "Diablo," starring Vin Diesel

Southpaw Media Group Has Partnered With Bill Mechanic's Pandemonium

Indie film and TV production shingle Southpaw Media Group has partnered with Bill Mechanic's Disney-based Pandemonium to co-produce two projects -- "The Whole Wide World" and "Across the Universe."

"World," penned by Stewart Schill, is the story of an astronaut and his wife who struggle to find meaning in their everyday existence after a life-changing incident. Script is out to directors.

"Across the Universe," an original story by Sam Egan based on an idea from Mechanic, is a big-budget event pic about the race against time to the edges of the known universe. Egan is penning the script.

David Fincher enrolls for Regency's 'Stay' thriller

David Fincher has come aboard to develop, with an eye to direct, Regency Enterprises' supernatural thriller "Stay." The project reteams the helmer and the 20th Century Fox-based company, who worked together on "Fight Club."

"Stay," written by David Benioff, is about a psychologist at an Ivy League university who tries to prevent one of his students from committing suicide. "Stay" was picked up by Regency in October for $1.8 million after attracting the interest of at least a half-dozen companies and becoming the object of a heated contest before the deal was closed . Tom Lassally and Michael Bay are attached to produce.

Regency production president Sanford Panitch will oversee the project. Fincher, repped by CAA, directs the upcoming Columbia Pictures feature "The Panic Room," starring Jodie Foster. His credits include "The Game" "Seven" and "Alien3."

Bernardo Bertolucci Will Direct "Paris '68

Bernardo Bertolucci will direct "Paris '68," a feature film detailing the real-life student uprising that took place in France's capital during the late 1960s.

The project is aimed to go into production later this year in Europe with U.K. producer Jeremy Thomas ("Sexy Beast") producing through his Recorded Pictures Co.

In May 1968, thousands of university students began to protest their moribund system, which led to a bloody battleground between students and police. Appalled by the brutality, 10 million workers (about half of the French labor force) joined the movement and essentially shut down the country's economic machinery for several weeks, during which there was no mail, banking, transportation, etc. People demanded the resignation of the government, including President Charles de Gaulle. The end result saw French social reforms in such areas as education and immigration.

The film is the latest political exploration for Bertolucci, whose work has dealt with fascism ("The Conformist"), socialism ("1900") and the Chinese monarchy ("The Last Emperor"), among other themes. It was the latter film -- which won nine Oscars including best picture, director and adapted screenplay -- that began the filmmaker's longtime association with Thomas. Their relationship has spanned 15 years and includes collaborations on such films as "The Sheltering Sky," "Little Buddha" and "Stealing Beauty."

"Paris" will be financed independently, with U.S. distribution likely being sought upon completion of the film. Bertolucci is repped by ICM.

Sony Classics bowled over by "Lagaan"

Sony Pictures Classics will give Ashutosh Gowariker’s Indian epic Lagaan a new theatrical outing in the US in the late spring amid buzz that the 223 minute-film received a rapturous reception at its Academy Award foreign language film committee screening. The Academy Award nominations are announced next Tuesday (Feb 12).

The film was released on the Hindi theatre circuit in June last year through SET Pictures, the global distribution arm of Sony Entertainment Television (SET), which is the seven year-old Indian venture between Columbia TriStar International Television and Sony Pictures Entertainment, Los Angeles. It grossed an impressive $0.835m.

SET’s sister company Sony Classics is obviously a natural to release the film in English theatres, although the Hindi video and DVD have already hit US video shelves. However, the selection of the film as India’s foreign language Oscar submission has led to a renewed exposure among English-speaking critics and Academy voters, who responded favourably to its official screening, according to insider reports.

The film first started getting international play at the Locarno Film Festival last year where it won the Prix Du Public Award and it went on to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival. A romantic costume epic set in a small farming village in central India in 1893 during British rule, Lagaan tells the story of a cricket match staged between the British overlords and a team of villagers. If the villagers win, they will not have to pay tax (or lagaan) for three years; if they lose, they will have to pay triple tax.

Produced by its star, Indian superstar Aamir Khan, Lagaan shot on location for five and a half months and is considered a classic example of a new Bollywood epic, with sumptuous production values, an accomplished song score and gripping dramatic storytelling.

It is at the forefront of the international explosion of Indian cinema which has seen Miramax Films pick up rights to The Warrior, USA Films pick up Mira Nair’s Golden Lion-winner Monsoon Wedding and First Look Pictures take Asoka.

Hanks is Hollywood's most bankable

What is it with Tom Hanks? If he's not notching up another Oscar or two, the comedian turned Serious Actor is being lavished with some other kind of industry recognition. In a year when he has no work to offer for the Academy's delectation, Hanks has just reminded everyone of his megastar status by tying for first place with Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise as the most bankable Hollywood performer in a poll published 02/05/2002 by THReporter.

Hanks's position merely cements what we've all known for several years now - that whether he's running around on a desert island with a long beard and a basketball for company, playing a moronic table tennis champ or dodging bullets in Normandy, the man can do no wrong in the eyes of Hollywood's prime movers.

While Hanks, who will appear later this year as an avenging hitman in Sam Mendes's The Road to Perdition, has been king of all he surveys for some time, others are more recent arrivals the kingdom. Three years ago Julia Roberts ranked eighth in the same poll; now she is joint first and is clearly a very valuable commodity since winning the Oscar last year for Erin Brockovich. The Hollywood Reporter's StarPower 2002 survey has her as the only woman to feature among the top ten stars.

Cameron Diaz, Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock followed for the women, but none was able to match Roberts's 100 per cent 'Maximum StarPower' rating. The magazine questioned more than 110 film executives and asked them to consider the bankability of 1,000 actors. They were asked to consider each star's ability to get films funded as well as his or her box office draw.

Others to benefit from Oscar glory were Russell Crowe, last year's Academy Award winner for Gladiator, who saw his ranking jump from mid-table mediocrity in 1999 to seventh this year. Crowe scored 94.74 and clearly has a little way to go before he can look Roberts, Hanks and Cruise in the eye. Perhaps he'll join the club if he wins a second Oscar next month for his acclaimed performance as a schizophrenic maths genius in A Beautiful Mind.

Writers Guild; Two Pictures Are Ineligible For Its Honors

In a blow to the films' screenplay Oscar chances, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has ruled that kudos favorites "In the Bedroom" and "Memento" are ineligible for its honors. WGA nominations for feature films will be announced Thursday.

At the time the films were made, the writers weren't members of the WGA, and the productions were not WGA signatories. As a result, in accordance with longstanding WGA rules, the two pictures were not on the list of films to be considered.

Both pictures have won notable early-round contests: "Bedroom" took the National Board of Review and Golden Satellite honors, while "Memento" has collected laurels from the American Film Institute and the Los Angeles, Toronto, Las Vegas and broadcast critics groups.

"Our objective is to protect writers," said Victoria Riskin, president of the Writers Guild of America West. "But it's not easy when some wonderful screenwriting can't qualify. It always stirs up debate among the members when something like this happens. But the members' concerns are with getting the writers their benefits and protecting their rights."

Aaron Ryder, an executive producer on "Memento" and an executive at Newmarket Film Group, which released the low-budget smash, was sanguine about the situation.

"Each of these guilds and organizations have their own rules, and we have to live with them," he said.

"It would've been great to get a Writers Guild nomination, or to win, but we're excited about the film's future, we're proud of our Golden Globe nomination and so we're not angry."

None of the disqualified writers could be reached for comment. Representatives from Good Machine and Greenestreet Films, which produced "In the Bedroom," and Miramax, which released it, declined comment.

"In the Bedroom" was SAG member Todd Field's first writing (and feature directing) effort, and both it and "Memento" were made on small budgets. At the time they were made, it's reasonable to assume the producers were more concerned about staying within tight budgets than about taking the steps necessary to qualify the films for awards.

The guilds have differing rules for their awards, which explains why "Memento" writer-helmer Christopher Nolan received a feature film nomination from the Directors Guild of America, and why "Bedroom's" Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson were nominated for the Screen Actors Guild's awards, as was the film's ensemble cast.

"Our rule is pretty much the same as the Academy's," DGA spokesman Andy Levy explained. "A film has to screen for one week in the qualifying year in L.A."

Levy noted that Nolan joined the Directors Guild after "Memento" was shot, and that DGA nominee -- and strong Oscar contender -- Baz Luhrmann, director, co-writer and co-producer of "Moulin Rouge" also is not a DGA member.

"We're celebrating the outstanding directorial achievements for the year, period," Levy said. "We don't want to discriminate against any film."

VIP Medienfonds Is To Back The First English-Language Project

Munich-based Film & Entertainment VIP Medienfonds (VIP) is to back the first English-language project by Der Tunnel director Roland Suso Richter.

VIP is to supply just over half of the budget for The I Inside which will go into production in March by Rudy Cohen’s RCD Productions with a cast understood to include Stephen Dorff, Christian Slater and Lauren Bacall.

Richter, whose previous feature credits included 14 Tage Lebenslaenglich and After The Truth, also directed the SAT.1 TV two-parter The Tunnel whose theatrical version was sold by BetaCinema to US distributor Roxie Releasing last week.

VIP raised Euros 10.4m for its first placement as planned last year and is putting up 100% financing for another two projects: 150 three-minute shorts under the banner Wahr Oder Falsch (True Or False), which are already in production by TVNTV and will be sold internationally by the KirchGroup’s sales arm BetaFilm; And the action thriller Global Effect, to be produced by Cinetelfilms Inc. from March 2002.

Taiwan site's $1 online films draw MPAA eye

A new online movie company is renting blockbuster films for $1. "Shrek," "Legally Blonde," "Spy Kids," "The Tailor of Panama" -- those and hundreds of other films are all available to be streamed a limitless number of times for three days.

Is it legal? The Taiwanese company Movie88 seems to think so. A notice on the site reads: "All the materials, movies and films in Movie88.com are lawful and free from copyright infringement under the laws of the Republic of China."

The MPAA is much less sure. A spokesman said that the MPAA was "looking into it and was taking steps to deal with the site appropriately."

He added that the MPAA operates a program in Taiwan as part of its worldwide anti-piracy operation and that it therefore had the personnel and expertise to handle whatever the situation may prove to be.

Legitimate sites for online movies took a stronger position. "Clearly, we're against it and believe it should be shut down," said Bruce Eisen, executive vp of CinemaNow. "But it also shows that there is a public demand for Internet video on demand that offers a legitimate alternative to these pirate sites. CinemaNow has been doing this for several years and is pleased to see that Movielink and Movies.com are joining us in meeting this demand."

The Web site address for Movie88.com is registered as belonging to Daniel Tan at an address in Taipei. Attempts to contact the company were unsuccessful by press time.

Besides the American films, Movie88 has many films in Chinese and other languages along with popular American television series such as "Friends."

The Movie88.com Web site is very slow and somewhat awkward to use. Once a viewer chooses a movie and starts playing it, the stream frequently buffers and often drops completely. Many titles are poorly encoded as well.

A RealNetworks spokeswoman confirmed that although the webcasts use its Real Player product, RealNetworks is not serving the stream and therefore has no association with the site or its operations.

Feds Decided To Investigate SAG Election

The U.S. Department of Labor has decided to investigate last year's Screen Actors Guild national election. Last week, a group of five SAG members filed a formal complaint with the Department of Labor urging it to suspend the controversial rerun of the SAG national election and conduct its own investigation.

Although the DOL does not have authority to halt the rerun, which will go forward as scheduled, there are several possible actions the DOL could take, ranging from allowing the results of the rerun to stand to nullifying them to the most unlikely -- stepping in and supervising a third election.

Before an investigation could proceed, the DOL had to determine whether all internal SAG remedies had been exhausted. That decision was apparently made last week, according to sources close to the filing.

Washington-based SAG board member Nat Benchley confirmed that fellow Washington-based board member Jane Beard will fly to Los Angeles to be interviewed by the DOL as a lead complainant in the investigation. In addition to Beard, the DOL complaint was signed by SAG first vp Mike Farrell, Chicago branch president Lisa Lewis and guild members John Fleming and Paul Petersen.

The DOL investigation will focus on numerous charges lodged in the filing, including: the committee that decided to rerun the election did not have authority to take such an action, the committee's ruling was biased and politically motivated, the factors mentioned in the committee's decision to rerun the election had no effect on the outcome of the election, and the committee attempted to manipulate the election process "to its own desired ends."

DOL district director Jeffrey Gitomer declined comment, in accordance with DOL policy, on whether a complaint had been filed. He also declined comment on whether the DOL had accepted the case.

"If this elections committee was found to be invalid, then the whole election would be invalidated," said Rick Barker, one of the five members of the original committee. Barker said he had served on a previous elections committee that had been appointed in the same way.

Last week, SAG's national board voted to go forward with the rerun and formed a new election committee.

In the original election, Melissa Gilbert defeated Valerie Harper for the SAG presidency by 1,588 votes. Gilbert declined comment. Harper was unavailable for comment.

The DOL will have to determine whether the actions of the original elections committee were reasonable and whether the original complaints were legitimate. Gitomer had previously said that it was unlikely an investigation could be completed by March 8, the night the results of the rerun are scheduled to be announced.

Ballots for the rerun will be sent out Monday, with a March 8 return date.

On Jan. 7, the original elections committee decided unanimously to rerun the voting for the three national officer positions of president, treasurer and recording secretary, citing procedural foul-ups caused by SAG staffers and Sequoia Voting Systems, the firm hired by SAG to conduct the election.