Temple, Bentley in 'Lovelace'

Temple"The Dark Knight Rises" thesp Juno Temple, "American Beauty" star Wes Bentley and Sharon Stone are set to join Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's drama "Lovelace."Set between the birth of the sexual revolution and the culmination of the feminist movement, "Lovelace" depicts the life of Linda Boreman, who as 'Linda Lovelace' became the world's first erotic superstar.Seyfried toplines as Lovelace, while Sarsgaard plays her pornographer husband, Chuck Traynor. Stone will play Dorothy Boreman, Linda's mother, while Temple will play Linda's best friend. Bentley will play Lovelace's second husband, Larry Marchiano.Andy Bellin ("Trust") wrote the script. Eclectic Pictures' Heidi Jo Markel will produce with Untitled Entertainment's Laura Rister and Jason Weinberg, as well as Jim Young of Animus Films. Exec producers include Boaz Davidson, Danny Dimbort, Mark Gill, W. Merritt Johnson, Avi Lerner, Trevor Short and John Thompson. Production will start at the end of the month in Los Angeles. While Temple just starred as Queen Anne in Summit's "The Three Musketeers," she's coming off a string of upcoming indie pics including "Little Birds," "Jack and Diane," "The Brass Teapot," "Small Apartments" and William Friedkin's "Killer Joe." Brit thesp, who's part of the star-studded ensemble of Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," is also attached to star opposite Michael Cera in Sebastian Silva's Chilean thriller "Magic, Magic."Bentley, who will soon be seen opposite Seyfried in Summit's thriller "Gone," recently wrapped the role of Seneca Crane in Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games."Stone, who's last major role was in Emilio Estevez's 2006 pic "Bobby," recently wrapped Marc Turtletaub's indie "Gods Behaving Badly."Temple is repped by UTA, Troika and attorney James Feldman. Bentley is repped by WME and Untitled Entertainment, while Paradigm reps Stone with Binder & Associates. Contact Jeff Sneider at jeff.sneider@variety.com

FilmDistrict sets Open Road distrib'n deal

FilmDistrict has agreed to a three-film distribution deal with Open Road.FilmDistrict topper Peter Schlessel confirmed the deal Tuesday to Variety.Move comes a month after Bob and Jeanne Berney announced their exit as the top distribution and marketing execs at FilmDistrict, a sudden shift for the fledgling distrib that's packing up its NY office and moving all operations to Los Angeles.The Berneys will continue handling FilmDistrict releases until March 1.FilmDistrict saw success earlier this year with "Insidious" and "Soul Surfer," both of which were acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. (Sony's TriStar Pictures distribbed the latter pic, with FilmDistrict co-marketing.)Summer releases "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" and "Drive" saw modest-to-OK results.Under the deal between Open Road and FilmDistrict, Open Road will release scifier "Escape From M.S. One," starring Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace, on April 20, and the "Red Dawn" remake on Nov. 2. The third film hasn't been selected. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

ITV Art galleries America Pacts With M3 Creative For Series Development

EXCLUSIVE: ITV Art galleries America has signed a preliminary-look development deal with M3 Creative, Andy Meyers’ creative agency that's branching out into series production. The pact covers rights on original non-scripted projects from M3, which is experienced in high quality content, marketing and advertising across all platforms and contains clients including Disney, NBCUniversal as well as the Academy of motion Picture Arts And Sciences. ITV Art galleries America acquires, evolves and produces reality and scripted fare for your U.S. market its slate includes Prime Suspect, Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Bad dreams or nightmares, First 48 and Steven Seagal: Lawman.

Christie Brinkley Owes IRS $500,000, Court Public Record Information Show

Christie Brinkley Christie Brinkley owes $531,000 with the spine taxes for the Irs, the NY Daily News reviews. The Federal Government filed a lien in the one of the characteristics the "Uptown Girl" has on NY's New You are able to November. 21, according to records acquired with the newspaper. Brinkley, 57, looks like it's worth $80 million, mainly from characteristics she has inside the Hamptons. Have a look at photos of Christie Brinkley "Christie Brinkley was surprised to hear today the tax lien happen to be filed, and contains instructed her team to resolve the issue immediately," Brinkley's repetition, Claire Mercuri, told the NY Daily News. The prior supermodel, who was simply once married to Billy Joel, made her Broadway debut taken playing Roxie Hart inside the musical Chicago. She recently reprised her role for your London production.

Melrose II fund sues Vital over profits

The Melrose II fund co-funded several Vital photos, such as the 'Transformers' franchise.Traders in Melrose II, a fund which co-funded Vital photos such as the "Transformers" franchise, have prosecuted the studio over profits to many films. Filed today in La Superior court, the suit seeks to recuperate profits associated with a virtually $375 million purchase of 29 films dating back 2006. Suit, that also title DreamWorks like a defendant, points to photos including "Jason Bourne 3," "Charlotte's Web," "Dreamgirls," "Flags in our Fathers," "Rotor blades of Glory," "Jackass 2" and all sorts of three "Transformers" films. As the suit doesn't specify $ 1 amount, the contested cash is thought to total within the hundreds of millions. Documents allege that since inking an offer using the studio 5 years ago, bankers haven't yet seen an income on the investment. The complaint alleges that individuals traders were titled to some a 25% copyright curiosity about as much as 30 films and decided to fund a "professional rata" quantity of the development costs. "Melrose II is a vital investor and copyright owner and we are likely to battle to make certain they obtain fare share of those profits," Kirkland & Ellis LLP's Mark Holscher told Variety. The firm is representing the Melrose II group, generally composed traders located in NY. "On Melrose Avenue, in the earliest existing film studio in Hollywood, Vital Pictures Corporation routinely computes 'net receipts' to take huge returns on a bouquet of books while confirming deficits to the profit participants on another," the suit alleges. This isn't the very first time traders have accused the studio of Hollywood accounting. In 2008, numerous traders in the studio's Melrose I financing vehicle prosecuted the studio for investments fraud and therefore are presently seeking about $$ 30 million in damages. Vital was without an instantaneous comment. Contact Rachel Abrams at Rachel.Abrams@variety.com

NYFCC Nudges Awards Vote Back 24 Hours, Adds Twitter Component

The NY Film Critics Circle retreated a bit today from its controversial decision to move its annual 2011 awards vote up to Nov. 28 — thus becoming the first in the country — by delaying it 24 hours to Nov. 29. NYFCC chairman John Anderson cited “conflicting schedules” as the motive. Meanwhile, you can follow the announcements live on the NYFCC’s new awards Twitter account — @NYFCC2011 — next Tuesday morning. Or just keep an eye out here at Movieline for all the results as they happen. [Press release]

THR Poll: Oscar Audiences Prefer Eddie Murphy Over Billy Very as Show Host

This short article initially made an appearance within the November. 25 problem from the Hollywood Reporter magazine.our editor recommendsBilly Very to Host the OscarsEddie Murphy Exits as Oscar HostBrian Grazer Changing Brett Ratner as Oscar Producer (Exclusive)Brett Ratner Out as Oscar Show Producer (Exclusive)Related Subjects•Oscars 2012•The Race The Academy breathed a sigh of relief when John Grazer and Billy Very required over for Brett Ratner and Eddie Murphy as producer and host from the Academy awards. But they are audiences as excited to determine Very's ninth turn as emcee? To discover, researching the market firm Penn Schoen Berland interviewed 510 honours-show audiences aged 13 to 59 and in comparison the outcomes against similar surveys about Murphy and 2011 hosts James Franco and Hathaway As Catwoman. Notes pollster Jon Penn, "A Very Academy awards reinstates class and credibility towards the show, but his appeal is considerably older, female and conservative." PHOTOS: Oscar Hosts Over time 56%: Audiences who support Very as host Lower from 72 percent for Murphy Only audiences over 45 and ladies over 30 support Very a lot more than Murphy 53 percent of nonwhites support Very 82 % of nonwhites support Murphy Very's overall support is just 2 percent greater than that for Franco and Hathaway (54 percent) PHOTOS: Oscar's Greatest Tanks 67%: Audiences who plan to watch the Very-located Academy awards 7 percent less than individuals who'd watch a Murphy show African-People in america tend to be more than 2½ occasions not as likely to look at Very In mind-to-mind competition, Murphy is the option of 58 percent of audiences, in comparison with Very's 42 percent Related Subjects Hathaway As Catwoman Billy Very Brett Ratner John Grazer Eddie Murphy James Franco Academy awards Academy awards 2012