Ice Cube starring in Warners' 'Torque'

Ice Cube is in negotiations to star in Warner Bros. Pictures' "Torque" for director Joseph Kahn. The project begins shooting next month in Los Angeles.

"Torque" is described as a fast-paced adventure set in the world of motorcycle racing. Cube will star as Trey Wallace, the leader of the Machine, one of the most powerful and feared biker gangs in the country.

Last week, Jay Hernandez came aboard to star as a biker, as did Matt Schulze, who will play a vicious rider in a biker gang known as the Hellions.

The studio picked up "Torque" as a spec script in the summer from screenwriter Matt Johnson shortly after producer Neal H. Moritz scored boxoffice success with the action-adventure street-racing feature "The Fast and the Furious". The project reteams Schulze with Moritz, as the young actor also starred in "Fast."

J.P. Donahue and Kevin Polay rewrote "Torque," which Original Films executive Brad Luff is also producing.

Cube, repped by CAA, most recently came aboard to rewrite and executive produce with Matt Alvarez through their company CubeVision the MGM comedy feature "Race" for Hyde Park Entertainment and First Entertainment.

The multihyphenate next stars in MGM's "Barbershop" and New Line's "Friday After Next," which he wrote and produced.

'The Ranch' A Series Project For Showtime From Spyglass Entertainment.

The Mustang Ranch, America's oldest and most infamous legal brothel, shut down two years ago but its spirit is set to come back to life in "The Ranch," a series project for Showtime from Spyglass Entertainment.

The cable network has greenlighted a two-hour pilot of the show, an ensemble dramedy about the loves and lives of the women who work at Diamond Ranch, a legal bordello near Reno, Nev.

Inspired by the story of the Mustang Ranch, which paved the way for the legalization of prostitution in Nevada, the project was written by Lisa Melamed (Fox's "Party of Five"). She will executive produce the pilot with Spyglass co-chiefs Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber and Stuart Birnbaum.

"Ranch" is one of two envelope-pushing series in the works at Showtime, both centered on female ensembles. The other one, "Earthlings," revolves around a group of lesbian friends in Los Angeles and has also received a two-hour pilot order.

Both projects are casting -- and yes, there is "some nudity" required for the majority of the characters.

"Ranch" and "Earthlings" follow in the footsteps of "Queer as Folk," Showtime's successful and controversial gay-themed ensemble drama, which wraps its second season June 16. "Queer," Showtime's No. 1 program, was picked up this week for two more seasons. Showtime declined comment.

Paramount and Tollin/Rollins Above the Clouds

Paramount Pictures and studio-based Tollin/Robbins Pictures have teamed to bring to the big screen the story of Jayram Khadka, the first Nepalese athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics.

The studio has picked up Khadka's life rights as well as those of his adoptive father, Richard Morley. The project, "Above the Clouds," will center on the father-son relationship between the two.

Morley waged a vicious seven-year battle against the British judicial system to gain custody of Khadka to provide him with a better life after the boy's father died. While watching the 1992 Winter Olympics and amid an embattled adoption process, Khadka and Morley realized that there were no athletes representing Nepal. This year, Khadka went on to become the first Nepalese Olympian and competed as a cross-country skier in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

No writers are on board to adapt the project. TRP president of production Caitlin Scanlon will oversee the project, which was brought to the company by TRP producer Jonny Fink.

Dan Ireland Will Next Direct "The Beauty Of Jane,"

Dan Ireland ("The Whole Wide World") will next direct "The Beauty of Jane," a romantic drama starring Mira Sorvino and Charlie Hunnam ("Abandon").

Set in England in 1912, "Jane" is the story of an intelligent woman in her 30s who refuses to marry a handsome, wealthy young artist in his 20s for fear he will grow weary of her. When he is blinded in a hunting accident and loses his will to live, the woman takes a job as the young man's nurse and secretary and, using an American accent, conceals her identity from him.

The $8 million film begins shooting in the fall in and around London. Ireland co-wrote the script with Lindsay Perry. Sorvino will get a producers credit.

"This is a story of two people who make the fatal mistake of not admitting their love for each other, who must earn each other back before they can come into each other's lives again," Ireland told the media.

"Like 'The Whole Wide World,' 'The Beauty of Jane' is the story of two vibrant people who are perfectly suited for each other, but their heads get in the way of their hearts."

"The Whole Wide World" (1996), which starred Vincent D'Onofrio as ill-fated pulp novelist Bob Howard, helped co-star Renee Zellweger land the coveted role opposite Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire." Ireland's latest film, "Passionada," will close the Seattle Intl. Film Festival on June 16.

Hunnam plays the title role in United Artists' upcoming adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby," directed by Douglas McGrath. Sorvino recently was a producer of "Lisa Picard Is Famous."

Hollywood's intrigue with secret agents this year

There's nothing covert about Hollywood's intrigue with secret agents this year. The industry has spies piled sky high in every imaginable genre, from straight espionage adventures to action comedies to outright spoofs.

At least a dozen cloak-and-dagger flicks are hitting theaters by January, offering pint-sized operatives, heroic paper-pushers, big-toothed agents and the king of spies, James Bond, returning for his 20th big-screen adventure.

Arriving last week were "The Sum of All Fears," starring Ben Affleck as Tom Clancy's CIA desk jockey Jack Ryan, and "Undercover Brother," a parody of '70s "blaxploitation" movies with Eddie Griffin as an Afro-headed agent for a clandestine outfit called the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D.

Next up is "Bad Company," a comic action tale featuring Anthony Hopkins as a CIA honcho and Chris Rock as a street hustler recruited to replace his slain twin brother, a master spy. Close on its heels is "The Bourne Identity," an adaptation of Robert Ludlum's best seller with Matt Damon as an amnesiac agent.

"I guess there's just something inherently fascinating about that world of deception. There's something more sexy about that world than our own lives," said Damon, noting that the exotic locales and fancy duds are a big part of the appeal of many cinematic spies.

"That grandeur of seeing your protagonist in a tuxedo in Switzerland, this world that none of us, we're never, ever going to see up close and that probably doesn't exist, anyway. It transports you when you see it on the screen."

Spies have been a staple since the early days of cinema. The misadventures of World War I German spy Mata Hari were depicted on film in the silent era and were most famously captured in 1931 with Greta Garbo in the title role.

Alfred Hitchcock crafted some of the most memorable spy tales, including "The 39 Steps," "The Lady Vanishes" and "Notorious." "Dr. No" in 1962 established the James Bond franchise, opening the door for other espionage serials, among them Dean Martin's Matt Helm movies and James Coburn's "Our Man Flint" and "In Like Flint."

The George Smiley books and other spy novels of John Le Carre have been a steady source of films and TV miniseries, including "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," "The Little Drummer Girl" and last year's "The Tailor of Panama."

"They're good entertainment. People are fascinated with spies. They have been ever since we've had spies," said Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of "Bad Company," whose previous espionage outings include "Enemy of the State." "There are people who really put their lives at risk for what they believe in, and audiences have always been interested in that."

The Bond films, based on Ian Fleming's books, have been the most durable of Hollywood's covert operations, the franchise surviving 40 years and periodic makeovers as new actors took on the role (after Sean Connery came George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and current 007 Pierce Brosnan, now in his fourth film).

Brosnan, who starred as an opportunistic, anti-Bond sort of spy in "The Tailor of Panama," returns this fall in "Die Another Day," co-starring Halle Berry as the debonair agent's latest love interest and Rick Yune as a North Korean villain.

Among other upcoming spy tales:

• "Austin Powers in Goldmember": Hollywood's most successful spy spoof is back for its third installment. Mike Myers wears the bad dental work again as Austin and plays a new villain, Goldmember.
  
• "XXX": Vin Diesel stars as an extreme-sports star recruited by a National Security Agency operative (Samuel L. Jackson) to take on a dangerous mission.
  
• "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams": The sister and brother junior agents take on rival child spies in the sequel to last year's surprise family hit.
  
• "The Tuxedo": In his latest action comedy, Jackie Chan plays a chauffeur who is transformed into a super agent when he puts on his employer's magical formal wear.
  
• "Ecks Vs. Sever": "Spy Kids" co-star Antonio Banderas plays an ex-FBI agent on the trail of a dangerous operative (Lucy Liu).
  
• "I Spy": Eddie Murphy is a cocky boxer teamed with a secret agent (Owen Wilson) hunting down an arms dealer in a big-screen adaptation of the 1960s TV show.
  
• "The Recruit": Al Pacino plays a CIA boss dealing with a new recruit (Colin Farrell) at the agency's training ground, "The Farm."

"That slate of films is demonstrative of the appeal of that genre and also that there's many different ways to tell a story using that world," said Affleck, whose "The Sum of All Fears" debuted as last weekend's No. 1 film. "It's an enduring genre that kind of feeds into that fantasy life we all have, whether you're an actor or postal-service worker, where you think, wouldn't it be fun if I was really a spy?"

The "Austin Powers" movies and "Undercover Brother" are the latest in a venerable line of spy spoofs, including the 1960s TV series "Get Smart" and the 1984 comedy "Top Secret!" from the makers of "Airplane!"

Even Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron's spy hit, "True Lies," poked fun at the genre's conventions while embracing the over-the-top action and intrigue.

"To spoof something, you have to have something out there in the zeitgeist everybody can relate to," said John Ridley, who created "Undercover Brother" as an Internet cartoon and co-wrote the movie screenplay with Michael McCullers, Myers' collaborator on the second and third "Austin Powers" films. "When you see so many spy films out there, they start to have their own cliches, which makes it easier and easier to make fun of.

"How come James Bond always happens to get out of these situations? Why do they always give a demonstration of just the exact gadget he's going to need later? How come villains take so much time explaining what they're going to do as they're about to kill him? The fun is in turning all that on its ear."

Legal; Julius Nasso Indicted In Mob Case

Producer Julius Nasso, a former business partner of action star Steven Seagal, has been indicted as part of a group of 17 alleged members and associates of the Gambino crime family charged Tuesday with such crimes as extortion, racketeering, money laundering and witness tampering in a 68-count federal indictment.

Nasso, who has produced such films as "The Prince of Central Park" and "Fire Down Below," was charged with attempting to "extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from an individual in the film industry," according to a letter filed by prosecutors in Brooklyn federal court. Nasso and others named in the indictment allegedly demanded $150,000 for every film the victim made.

Although the target of the extortion attempts was not named in the indictment, Robert Hantman, Nasso's attorney, suggested that it was Seagal, whom he accused of incriminating Nasso. "Seagal owes Mr. Nasso money," Hantman said. "It's just unfortunate that people use their influence to make such serious allegations."

Asked if he had any proof of Seagal's involvement in the indictment, Hantman said only that he and his client had heard that Seagal was telling acquaintances that he would get Nasso arrested.

Martin Pollner, Seagal's attorney, said the star of such action films as "Under Siege" and "Exit Wounds" had "severed his relationship with Mr. Nasso some time ago." The lawyer declined further comment.

Nasso, who in 1997 partnered with Seagal in Seagal-Nasso to make films in which Seagal was to star, filed a $60 million suit against the actor in March claiming that Seagal pulled out of their partnership when he came under the influence of Mukara, a spiritual adviser associated with a Tibetan Buddhist sect.

Hantman called Nasso's indictment "a bizarre turn that reminds me of a Hollywood miniseries." He added that there is "no basis to the claim that Mr. Nasso has any affiliation or association with the Gambino family."

Nasso was arrested but was then released when he put up part of his house as collateral, Hantman said.

Legal; Cross-Examination Of Woody Allen

Sparks flew in the courtroom Tuesday as cross-examination of Woody Allen came to an end amid a confrontation between attorneys. Allen is suing his former friend and business associate Jean Doumanian, her companion, Jacqui Safra, and their production company, Sweetland Prods.

The face-off between Doumanian's lawyer Peter Parcher and Allen's counsel Alyson Weiss left Doumanian in tears while Allen sat glumly on the witness stand, staring straight ahead.

The fireworks came on the fourth day of the trial, in which Allen is suing for $12 million he claims that he is owed in profit participation for eight films he directed or appeared in for Sweetland.

The tension in the courtroom ignited when Parcher introduced a letter Allen sent to Doumanian soon after the suit was filed.

"This was supposed to be amusing," Allen wrote his longtime friend, "like a Tracy-Hepburn movie -- in court by day, friends by night! What's gotten into you? We talked about this very scenario many times."

The letter was written in response to media reports that quoted Doumanian's contention that Allen was treating them like "crooks," Allen testified.

Allen maintained that, given their decades-long friendship, he and Doumanian had laughed about the prospect of facing off in court. "She found it amusing," Allen said.

• "Look at her!" Parcher erupted, pointing across the room at his client.
• "Does she look like she finds it amusing?"
  
• "Cut it out!" Allen's lawyer Weiss interjected.
  
• "Cut it out?" Parcher shouted. "You cut it out!"
  
• Stepping into the fray, Judge Ira Gammerman ordered all parties to be quiet.
  
• Parcher earlier provoked the Allen team when he questioned the director on
• the nature of his friendship with Doumanian and Safra.
  
• "Did you want to continue the friendship after the suit?" Parcher asked.
  
• "Yes," Allen said.
  
• "To have dinner with Jean and Jacqui?"
  
• "Yes."
  
• "To fly on Jacqui's airplane?"
  
• "Yes."
  
• "To fight over (restaurant) checks with Jacqui?"
  
• "Yes."
  
• "To let Jacqui pay your hotel bills in Europe?"

Weiss lodged an objection that was sustained, but Allen, ignoring the judge and speaking directly to Parcher, said, "I resent the snide inference."

Much of the day's direct examination of the director focused on how Allen conducted business. Allen admitted to being somewhat detached from the nitty-gritty of business negotiations, relying on his business manager Stephen Tenenbaum and Tenenbaum's brother, Irwin, Allen's attorney.

Under cross examination, Allen said Safra was not charging him interest on the money provided by Sweetland to make his pictures. Allen, however, had termed this kind of arrangement "unheard of." In a memo to Safra, he wrote: "In the new deal, first off, you must charge the going rate for money. I thought you knew what you were doing, but you obviously didn't."

After admitting that he did not know how much profit his first three films with Doumanian and Safra made, Allen was asked why he did not collect the monies owed him as a profit participant. "We didn't divide the money because I felt it was in very safe hands. ... I felt it was as safe as in any bank," he said.

When Parcher repeatedly questioned him about the profitability of his films, the director said: "Profitability cannot always be defined by dollars and cents at the boxoffice." He went on to explain that even a financially unprofitable film can be profitable to a studio not only through ancillary sales but through prestige gained through awards.

Allen also claimed that ultimate profitability of a film was difficult to determine. "As you know, film companies are very creative with their accounting and are always pleading poverty. ... I've been making films for 35 years, and it's not because these companies are chomping at the bit to lose money," he testified.

Legal; 'Miami Vice' Actor Philip Michael Thomas Awarded $2.3 Million

Philip Michael Thomas, a co-star on the 1980s TV police drama "Miami Vice," was awarded $2.3 million by an arbitrator over the use of his likeness by a direct marketer, the company said Wednesday. The award ended an 8-year-old dispute with Direct marketer Traffix Inc. over the rights to use his name and likeness.

The American Arbitration Association ordered Traffix to pay Thomas a total of $2.3 million, the company said. Traffix said it was reviewing the decision and its options.

Thomas portrayed Det. Ricardo Tubbs opposite actor Don Johnson on the TV show. He later became a pitchman for a telephone psychic network, leading to the dispute over payments.

Traffix said Thomas claimed he was owed over $12 million, based on a 1994 agreement over how his name and likeness were used on television "infomercials." A Thomas spokesperson could not immediately be reached.

Legal; Producer Elie Samaha and  Franchise Gets Heat From FBI, Grand Jury

The legal problems dogging producer Elie Samaha and his Franchise Pictures, the firm behind John Travolta bomb "Battlefield Earth," have gotten worse.

The indie film producer has for months been under criminal investigation by the FBI, which is looking at broad-based fraud allegations involving the budgets of the films the company has produced.

Franchise, which has a domestic distribution deal at Warner Bros., confirmed Tuesday that it is aware of the investigation. The company is already involved in a civil suit with its erstwhile German partner Intertainment.

A federal grand jury has been empaneled in Los Angeles and subpoenas were issued late last year in connection with the FBI probe.

The subpoenas sought documents from the long-running civil suit brought against Franchise by its Intertainment headed by Barry Baeres.

In the Intertainment suit, the Teutonic distributor claims it was defrauded by Franchise, which allegedly submitted multiple and wildly inflated budgets on a slate of pictures it produced.

Samaha's criminal attorney Brian Sun of O'Neill, Lysaght & Sun LLP Tuesday told the Media, "Both Franchise and Elie Samaha fully intend to cooperate with any inquiry looking into their dealings with Barry Baeres and Intertainment."

One source familiar with the criminal probe said he believed it was linked to the allegations in the Intertainment case.

He added that the Hollywood studios and banks which had backed Franchise were already aware of the FBI investigation but continued to support Franchise. Intertainment attorney Scott Edelman of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP declined to comment.

Samaha was deposed last Friday and Monday in the Intertainment case in a sealed hearing. Both Sun and Samaha's civil lawyer Larry Stein of Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP were present.

Sun said that Samaha did not assert his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination during the deposition.

Sun has represented defendants ranging from Reed Slatkin, the Earthlink co-founder who pleaded guilty earlier this year to masterminding a $600 million Ponzi scheme, to Wen Ho Lee, the Los Alamos scientist who was falsely accused of illegally downloading nuclear secrets.

Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, declined to comment on the grand jury investigation.

Late last year, the German tabloid Bild am Sontag revealed the FBI probe and indicated it was being spearheaded by special agent Kevin Horn.

The article did not specify the nature of the FBI investigation but detailed Samaha's pre-producer career as an owner of the Roxbury Club, a celebrity nightspot in Hollywood. Samaha now co-owns another celebrity hangout, the Sunset Room.

Reached in Los Angeles, Horn declined to comment.

Samaha parlayed his partnership in the Roxbury into a producing career by offering stars the chance to get their pet projects made without studio involvement.

The list includes a few hits like "The Whole Nine Yards" with Bruce Willis, but more bombs such as Kevin Coster's "3,000 Miles to Graceland," Sylvester Stallone's remake of "Get Carter" and Travolta's "Battlefield Earth."

In May 1999, Samaha hooked up with Baeres, whose Intertainment at the time was a hot stock on the German Neuer Markt.

Under a 60-pic deal, Intertainment was to put up 47% of the budget of a slate of films in exchange for foreign distribution rights.

In December 2000, the Franchise-Intertainment deal fell apart when Baeres alleged that Franchise had padded the budgets on at least 10 films by $100 million.

The civil suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, is wrapping up discovery phase.

At a hearing in April, Franchise attorney Larry Stein conceded that Imperial Bank, which financed Franchise's pictures, was given the real budgets by Franchise, while higher budgets were reported to Intertainment.

Stein said the budgets were inflated with the full knowledge of Baeres as part of an oral agreement between Baeres and Samaha. The advantage to Baeres was that he got American movie stars at a below-studio price because of Samaha's relationships with the talent.

As a result, the stock price of Baere's company skyrocketed. It was not until Intertainment's stock price plummeted on the Neuer Markt and Franchise turned out a string of failures that Baeres decided to complain about the budgets, Stein argued in court.

At the hearing, Intertainment attorney Edelman dismissed Stein's explanation of the multiple budgets as preposterous.

Last month, the judge in the civil case allowed two of three RICO claims under the federal anti-racketeering statute against Franchise and Samaha to stand, despite a motion to dismiss.