Nick Stahl battles 'bots in 'T3' for C-2/Intermedia

Nick Stahl, onscreen in the Oscar-nominated feature "In the Bedroom," has been cast as the male lead opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in C-2 Pictures/Intermedia's "T3: Rise of the Machines." Jonathan Mostow is directing the project, which goes into production in Los Angeles on April 15.

Stahl will play the coveted role of reluctant hero John Connor, last played by actor Edward Furlong in the second installment of the "Terminator" franchise, 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." At that time, the character was only 10 years old, and Stahl will now play him as a 20-year-old.

The project is being produced in association with the Munich-based production entity IMF and Mostow/Lieberman Prods. C-2's Mario Kassar, Andy Vajna and Joel B. Michaels are producing with Hal Lieberman and Colin Wilson. Intermedia co-chairmen Moritz Borman, Nigel Sinclair and Guy East will executive produce. Warner Bros. is distributing the project domestically, while Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International will take on overseas territories.

Stahl is repped by UTA, Imparato/Fay and attorney Ken Richman. The actor first came to prominence in the 1993 feature "Man Without a Face" opposite Mel Gibson. He went on to appear in such films as "Disturbing Behavior," "The Thin Red Line" and "Bully."

The actor most recently appeared in the MTV telefilm "Wasted" opposite Summer Phoenix and next stars in the indie feature "Bookies" opposite Rachael Leigh Cook. Stahl recently shot a pilot for HBO, "Carnivale," opposite Clea DuVall.

Hilary Duff Signs Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen

There's a new exotic creature joining the hobbits, comic characters and swinging superspies that have populated the New Line Cinema universe in recent years: a teenage drama queen.

The studio has fast-tracked a movie based on the Dyan Sheldon novel "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" and signed Hilary Duff to star. The book will be adapted by Gail Parent and produced by Jerry Leider and Robert Shapiro.

Synopsis: Mary Elizabeth Cep, or Lola (Hilary Duff) to the others at her new high school, believes she has been relegated to a cultural wasteland after moving from her beloved New York City to Dellwood (Deadwood) High in New Jersey. However, only one of many in the city, she is a standout here, where she immediately recognizes a potential audience for her overwrought, dramatic stories embellished by loneliness and a desire to be accepted. She succeeds in at least being tolerated until she challenges Carla Santini, the ultimate BTW (Born-to-Win) and BTRE (Born-to-Run-Everything), for the lead in the school play.

Duff best known for her title role in the Disney Channel series "Lizzie McGuire," Duff's tween appeal helped make the show a ratings success and made her recent Disney Channel movie "Cadet Kelly" the highest-rated original movie in the cable channel's history.

That resume has helped Duff land a trio of major roles. In addition to "Confessions," she will star in a "McGuire" feature film for the Walt Disney Co. and opposite Frankie Muniz in MGM's "Agent Cody Banks."

"The combination of Hilary and this material is a home run," said Leider, who along with Shapiro worked with Duff on "Kelly."

"Hilary is a terrific actress and has the potential to be a huge movie star," Shapiro said. "And this role is really a magnetic character that is right in Hilary's strike zone."

While "Confessions" marks the next building block in Duff's career, it represents an equally notable move by New Line. The studio, which has made its name on genre pictures and raucous comedies generally aimed at teen boys, is clearly branching out in an attempt to attract the teenage girls that made "The Princess Diaries" and "Legally Blonde" so successful.

"It may be a little different, but I think it still pretty much fits what we do well, which is niche programming," New Line marketing chief Russell Schwartz said. "The story of the movie will resonate, and Hilary Duff brings a strong following, so that can be a potent mix."

"Confessions" will be overseen at New Line by director of development Michele Weiss, creative affairs vp Janis Rothbard Chaskin, business affairs executive Erik Ellner and production president Toby Emmerich. Duff is repped by Artists Management Group, Curtis Talent Management and attorney Michael Fuller.

William Hurt to Lead 'Blue Butterfly'

William Hurt has the lead role in "Blue Butterfly," the latest picture from seasoned Swiss-Canadian director Lea Pool ("Lost and Delirious").

 The film, which began shooting in Costa Rica on Sunday, is based on the true story of Georges Brossard, the founder of the Montreal Insectarium, and a 10-year-old boy terminally ill with brain cancer.

Twelve years ago, the boy asked Brossard, who hosts the Discovery Channel series "Insectia," to fulfill his last wish -- to capture the rare Blue Morpho butterfly, only found in the jungles of central America. The butterfly is said to have magical curative powers. They went to central America, caught the butterfly and, soon after, the boy's cancer went into remission.

Hurt plays renowned entomologist Alan Osborne, a fictionalized character based on Brossard. The boy is played by 13-year-old Toronto thesp Marc Donato, whose credits include "Pay It Forward" and "The Sweet Hereafter." His mother is played by Quebec actress Pascale Bussieres, who starred in "When Night is Falling" and Pool's "Set Me Free."

Production continues until May 3 in Costa Rica and then moves to Montreal for an additional month of shooting.

Principal Photography Begins on DAREDEVIL

Principal photography has begun on the action-adventure thriller DAREDEVIL, starring Ben Affleck, and written & directed by Mark Steven Johnson. The film will shoot entirely on location in Los Angeles, and is scheduled for release on January 17, 2003.

Regency Enterprises and Twentieth Century Fox are bringing Marvel's legendary comic hero -- known as the Man Without Fear -- to the big screen. Attorney Matt Murdock is blind, but his other four senses function with superhuman sharpness. By day, Murdock represents the downtrodden. At night, he is Daredevil, a masked vigilante stalking the dark streets of the city, a relentless avenger of justice.

DAREDEVIL stars Ben Affleck (the upcoming "The Sum of All Fears," "Pearl Harbor,"), Jennifer Garner ("Alias"), Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile"), Colin Farrell ("Hart's War"), Jon Favreau ("Made"), Joe Pantoliano ("The Matrix"), David Keith ("Behind Enemy Lines") and newcomer Scott Terra (the upcoming "Eight Legged Freaks").

DAREDEVIL is written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson ("Simon Birch"), produced by Gary Foster ("The Score") and Avi Arad ("X-Men"), and executive produced by Kevin Feige ("X-Men") and Bernie Williams ("The Score").

The behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Ericson Core ("The Fast and the Furious"), production designer Barry Chusid ("Blade" art director), three-time Oscar®-winning costume designer James Acheson (the upcoming "Spider-Man"), visual effects supervisor Rich Thorne ("Behind Enemy Lines"), Academy Award®- nominated editor Dennis Virkler ("The Fugitive," "The Hunt For Red October") and legendary action director Cheung-Yan Yuen ("Charlie's Angels," "Iron Monkey").

"Daredevil: The Man Without Fear" debuted in Marvel Comics' Daredevil #1 in 1964. Created by comics legend Stan Lee, Daredevil has endured as one of the most popular comic book heroes of all time and remains one of the most beloved characters in the Marvel Universe.

Ben Affleck stars in the title role. He will next be seen starring in "Changing Lanes," opposite Samuel L. Jackson, "The Sum of All Fears" as the Tom Clancy hero Jack Ryan, and in Martin Brest's "Gigli," opposite Jennifer Lopez. Affleck's other film credits include "Pearl Harbor," "Armageddon," "Shakespeare in Love," "Forces of Nature," "Dogma," "Boiler Room," "Reindeer Games," "Bounce" and "Chasing Amy." In 1998, he won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his first script, "Good Will Hunting," which he co-wrote with Matt Damon.

Jennifer Garner stars as martial arts femme fatale Elektra Natchios, Matt Murdock's new love interest and the daughter of a powerful Greek business tycoon. Garner recently received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Sydney Bristow on ABC's "Alias." Garner's film credits include "Pearl Harbor" (co-starring with Ben Affleck), "Dude, Where's My Car?," "Mr. Magoo," "Deconstructing Harry," "1999" and "Washington Square."

Michael Clarke Duncan stars as Wilson Fisk, a massively muscled underworld figure. Duncan will next be seen opposite The Rock in "The Scorpion King," and in the fantasy "George and the Dragon" with Patrick Swayze. Duncan was nominated for an Academy Award® for his performance opposite Tom Hanks in "The Green Mile." His film credits also include "Planet of the Apes," "Armageddon," "The Whole Nine Yards," "See Spot Run," "Bulworth," "The Player's Club," "A Night At The Roxbury" and his film debut, "Friday."

Colin Farrell is Bullseye, a psychotic and ruthless assassin with perfect aim. Dublin native Farrell will soon be seen starring in "The Farm" with Al Pacino, Joel Schumacher's "Phone Booth," and "Minority Report" with Tom Cruise. His film credits also include "Hart's War," "American Outlaws" and "Tigerland," for which he won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor.

Jon Favreau is Franklin `Foggy' Nelson, Matt Murdock's lifelong friend and law partner. A versatile actor, writer, producer and director, Favreau is best known for having written and starred in "Swingers" and "Made," which he also directed. His feature film acting credits include "The Replacements," "Very Bad Things," "Deep Impact," "Batman Forever," "PCU," "Rudy," "Hoffa" and "Folks."

Joe Pantoliano is Urich, an investigative reporter hot on the trail of the biggest story of his career: the secret behind the Man Without Fear. Pantoliano is perhaps best known for his roles in "The Matrix," "Memento" and "The Fugitive." Recently, he played a memorable recurring role on "The Sopranos."

David Keith is Matt Murdock's single father, beleaguered prizefighter Jack `The Devil' Murdock. Keith's film credits include the upcoming "The Stick Up" with James Spader, and "Sabretooth," as well as recent films "Behind Enemy Lines," "U-571" and "Men of Honor." David's seventy-plus film projects began with his debut in "The Rose" with Better Midler, and include appearances in "The Great Santini," "Brubaker," "An Officer and a Gentleman," "Independence Day," "The Lords of Discipline," "Firestarter," "White of the Eye," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Major League II," and "The Indian in the Cupboard," among others.

Relative newcomer Scott Terra plays Matt Murdock at age twelve. Terra will soon be seen in the film "Eight Legged Freaks." His film credits also include "The Perfect Nanny," "Redemption of the Ghost," "Ground Zero" and "Shadrach."

Mark Steven Johnson (Director/Writer) made his directorial debut in 1998 with "Simon Birch," which he also scripted based on the John Irving novel, "A Prayer for Owen Meany." As a screenwriter, Johnson is best known for his hit pictures "Grumpy Old Men" and the sequel, "Grumpier Old Men," starring screen legends Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Sophia Loren. His other screenplays include "Big Bully," starring Rick Moranis and Tom Arnold, and "Jack Frost," starring Michael Keaton.

Gary Foster (Producer) produced the Oscar and Golden Globe- nominated hit "Sleepless in Seattle," which grossed in excess of $300 million worldwide. He most recently produced "The Score," starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Marlon Brando. His film producing credits include "Tin Cup," "Gloria," "Desperate Measures," "Big Bully," "Short Circuit," "Short Circuit 2," "The Amazing Panda Adventure," and co-produced "Just Cause." In 1997, Foster partnered with writer/director Mark Steven Johnson to form Horseshoe Bay Productions, a full-service company designed to develop, write, produce and direct motion pictures.

Avi Arad (Producer) is the President and CEO of Marvel Studios. Arad works with many of Hollywood's most prestigious directors, writers, producers and studio executives, carefully supervising the transition of Marvel characters to live-action and animated feature films. His film producing and executive producing credits include the upcoming "Spider-Man," "The Hulk," "Blade II," "X-Men 2," as well as recent films "X-Men" and "Blade." His animated television series credits include "Spider-Man," "X-Men," "The Incredible Hulk," "Spider Man Unlimited," "Avengers" and "Mutant X."

TV; Roy Rogers, Dale Evans Get Back in the Saddle

Western legends Roy Rogers and Dale Evans are coming back to life in a series of family-oriented films and TV programs that will depict the beloved duo's pioneering spirit.

Producers Lawrence Bender and Kevin Brown have made a deal with Roy "Dusty" Rogers Jr. and producer Jeffrey Kramer, who represent Roy Rogers Family Entertainment, for film, TV and merchandising rights to the late couple's estate and likeness.

Rather than shop the rights piecemeal, the producers aim to make an overall deal with a media firm to produce films and TV programs starring actors playing Rogers and Evans. The couple appeared in 88 features and 100 episodes of a TV series that ran from 1952-57.

Also in the hatching stage is a biopic and a TV special featuring contemporary country artists singing such Rogers and Evans standards as "Happy Trails," which was written by Evans.

"Though they still have a strong following, people don't realize that Roy was very much like the character he played," said Brown. "He was an uncomplicated hero, and that's what we liked about him."

Though Bender is best known for producing Quentin Tarantino shoot-'em-ups like "Pulp Fiction" and the Uma Thurman-Warren Beatty starrer "Kill Bill," currently in pre-production, the Rogers film will be strictly for the family.

"We're not going back to the Old West, but we will incorporate the values and morals that Roy and Dale were known for, and though we began negotiating this long before Sept. 11, there seems to be an appetite for that kind of thing," said Brown.

"Much the way you might see Ted Turner on his ranch on a horse, you'd see these characters that way at a time when they were switching over to Land Rovers. These will be contemporary, hip tales. We've already been offered an opportunity to do an animated series, and we intend to explore every way to depict the characters without violating what they meant to everybody."

The notion of hiring actors to play the deceased duo is daunting, but Dusty Rogers and producer Kramer noted that they are still quite popular, with about 55,000 annual visitors to the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Victorville, Calif.

"Roy and Dale hold the single day box office record at the Old Madison Square Garden, and they had 29 straight sellout performances there," said Rogers. "My dad was one of the first cowboys to bring entertainment to state fairs and rodeos, that's how it started, and other than the Wild West shows done by Buffalo Bill, they were real pioneers of halftime entertainment. We will have to be delicate and careful with the characters, and we chose these producers because we thought they could bring some edge and imagination to it"

Industry; Leo Kirch Seeks Sweetener for Giving Up Media Empire

Leo Kirch prepared on Tuesday to throw in the towel on the German media empire he has spent 47 years building but he is demanding a parting gift -- an interest in the World Cup soccer rights, sources said.

Leo Kirch, once Germany's most powerful media baron, is angling for a share of the 2006 World Cup rights in return for relinquishing control of his core business as part of a $700 million rescue of his ailing group by creditors and investors.

Advisers to media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi and other investors on Tuesday continued to negotiate a deal with creditors to carve up debt-laden Kirch that could give investors control of the core business.

"Leo Kirch is cherry picking the best assets in return for control of the (core business) KirchMedia," said one source close to the talks. "Leo Kirch does not appear to care much about remaining in Kirch Media with a minority." A Kirch spokesman declined to comment.

Kirch, one of Germany's best-known media groups with interests stretching from television to publishing, has been negotiating a bail-out with creditors for weeks after amassing a 6.5 billion euro ($5.72 billion) debt pile during an acquisition spree and a costly foray into pay television.

Four key creditors and investors are discussing a cash injection of some 800 million euros in return for control of Kirch Media, home to the film rights and commercial TV business. Sources said they were still pushing to do a deal this week.

FOREIGN CONTROL

While the precise break-up between investors and creditors has yet to be agreed, sources close to the talks said investors currently looked more likely to take control of Kirch Media, which is 72 percent owned by Leo Kirch.

Foreign control would be a big change for Germany whose core media assets have always been in German hands. However, any deal would stress that no one shareholder would have control to avoid another political backlash to Murdoch and other outsiders.

Murdoch has for long harbored German ambitions. However, he has so far been restricted to a minority stake in Kirch's loss-making pay television arm and a stake of just over two percent in Kirch Media alongside investors including Prince Al-Waleed's Kingdom Holdings and Lehman Brothers.

Berlusconi's media group Mediaset is representing shareholders in the talks but some sources noted they had diverse interests -- Murdoch is keen to secure a bigger stake than other investors, such as Mediaset, are prepared to take on.

Kirch Media is deemed to be the most valuable part of Kirch's crumbling empire, owning lucrative rights to events such as the 2002 and 2006 World Cup soccer tournaments and a majority of Germany's top broadcaster ProSiebenSat1.

It does not include Kirch's rights to Formula One motor racing nor its 40 percent stake in German publisher Axel Springer -- assets that would probably be sold off in the future as part of a long-term solution to Kirch's problems.

WORLD CUP

Kirch bought the global rights to the World Cup finals for 2002 and 2006 for 2.8 billion Swiss francs ($1.68 billion) from the soccer organization FIFA five years ago.

At the time that was a huge increase on the previous $340 million deal negotiated for the World Cups of 1990, 1994 and 1998. However, Kirch said last December it had already recouped the money for 2006 with just half the possible contracts signed.

Sources close to the negotiations said Leo Kirch was looking to secure 70 percent of the proceeds from the broadcast rights to the 2006 tournament sold to German-language broadcasters as well as a commission for the global rights.

"Leo has had a showdown with creditors and is on his way out but wants one last thing in return," said one source.

Music Biz Falls Off the Scale

Analysts fear the worldwide music market plummeted 10% in value to $33 billion last year -- the worst drop in record business historyOfficial stats are due April 16 from the industry's trade group the Intl. Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), but the estimated scale of the downturn has alarmed observers.

Much of the blame is laid on pirated music downloaded from the Internet, especially in the United States, as well as more consumers burning copies of CDs. The IFPI reckons that for every CD purchased, another is burned.

Meanwhile, organized piracy is still on the rise, particularly in Asia and Latin America. Record companies, however, are hoping that 2001 will prove the bottom of the downward slide.

The industry was heavily hit after the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., but it has closed illegal Web sites such as Napster and launched anti-piracy initiatives this year.

Whatever happened to the high school slut?

The modern women's movement has worked for equal rights in the bedroom as well as the boardroom. But despite the new openness regarding women's sexuality, the double standard remains more bent than broken.

 Confirmation of this truth is found in Emily White's Fast Girls: Teenage Tribes and the Myth of the Slut, a book about the young women ''whose bodies had no boundaries.'' Its findings, though bolstered with some Internet research and selected reading, are based primarily on the responses White received from more than 150 girls or women after placing this query in newspapers across the country: ''Are you or were you the slut of your high school?''

It may be no surprise to learn that girls who act out sexually -- and those who are rumored to -- often become pariahs among their peers. According to White, they inspire awe and even envy, but seldom compassion. And their pariah status encourages them to act out more, figuring they have nothing to lose.

This story has been told before, in Leora Tanenbaum's 1999 critique of sexual stereotyping, Sluts! Growing Up Female With a Bad Reputation. But where Tanenbaum sees some possible benefit from the finger-pointing -- that is, the permission it gives a girl to break the bonds of restrictive female conventions -- White finds nothing to redeem it.

Rather, among her self-selected group of respondents, the Seattle writer reports suicide attempts, stays in psychiatric wards and addiction problems. A sense of self-loathing often follows such girls to adulthood.

''In a culture that annihilates slutty women,'' she writes, ''girls who have been ordained the high school slut often want to destroy themselves.''

More impressionistic than authoritative, Fast Girls sometimes yields to hyperbole, portraying the cliquish culture of high school in nightmarish terms and the common practice of little girls playing dress-up as ''something whorish.'' Its observations often are as random as its reporting.

Yet White has the writing skills to cover some of the book's flaws, and she's self-aware enough to recognize how her own interpretations are woven through the stories of the girls and women she interviewed. Her images of the high school experience, from ''the fluorescent orange nachos'' to the bleachers where kids perch like birds, are neatly drawn.

And some of her observations feel original, such as when she notes how the slut myth helps other teenagers cope with their own burgeoning sexual energy, and how group sex is not so much about sex as it is about male bonding.

White's more important points deal with the common denominators of sluttish behavior: early physical development, an orientation toward risk, and such factors as divorce, sexual abuse or poverty (this last worthy of deeper exploration than what she gives it).

The book also starts off in another promising direction, observing, ''Like the anorexic, the slut is usually a white girl.'' But then White misfires by devoting pages to the issue of racism, while failing to probe the cultural differences that make the myth of the slut a largely white, suburban phenomenon.