Warner Bros Wins Round In Superman Suit Against Copyright Lawyer

Warner Bros/Electricity Comics Sues Superman Copyright Lawyer How Come Electricity/WB Vendetta Against Superman Copyright Lawyer Based On Stolen Files? Letter From Lois Lane To Time Warner Boss Ruling regarding Warner Bros., a federal judge on Tuesday rejected copyright lawyer Marc Toberoff’s claims that his actions as lawyer for receivers in the co-designers of Superman were shielded from legal interference. Using this method the judge allowed Warner Bros.’ suit against Toberoff to move forward. Warner Bros. outdoors counsel Daniel Petrocelli is attempting to undo Toberoff’s relationship while using receivers of Jerome Siegel and Ernest Shuster by accusing the attorney of interfering just like a competing company owner in contracts the studio and Electricity had produced while using receivers. Petrocelli was hired to build up a means to steer clear of the studio from possibly losing a part of the copyright to Superman in 2013 just like a court has formerly ruled. Petrocelli filed the current suit last May to put Toberoff in the position where he might need to resign since the attorney for your Siegels and Shusters. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Otis Wright learned that the studio’s argument “makes sense.” He ruled that because Toberoff had established strategic business plans through their very own company Off-shoreline Pictures with receivers of Siegel and Shuster, he wasn't protected under California’s anti-SLAAP (proper suit against public participation) statute that safeguards rights entrepreneurs against legal violence. Wright rejected Toberoffs anti-SLAPP argument, ruling he was acting within the capacity just like a businessman, not just a lawyer, through Off-shoreline Pictures — particularly concerning exploitation of Joe Shuster’s works of art. Furthermore, legal court ruled Toberoff interfered by getting a current 1992 agreement with Electricity Comics by inducing the Shusters to sign the Off-shoreline Pictures contracts, which purport to assign Toberoff the identical rights the Shusters had already assured Electricity. Wright agreed because the Off-shoreline Pictures Contracts essentially stomach the 1992 Agreement, and reassign to Toberoff people rights which in fact had lately been granted to Electricity Comics. The judge also granted Warner Bros. utilization of a This summer time 2003 letter from Laura Siegel to her late brother Michael. The letter appears to supply a lot more weight for the studio’s report that Toberoff tortiously interfered with WBs separate 2001 settlement while using Siegels to influence these to sign new contracts with him. At risk is if Warner Bros. can proceed with future exploitations in the rights to Superman. Deadline reported taken that in 2013, the Siegel receivers as well as the estate of co-creator Shuster will own a part of the original copyright to Superman and neither Electricity Comics nor Warner Bros. will have a way to exploit any new Superman works together with no license within the Siegels and Shusters. The receivers of Siegel are actually granted half the copyright for Superman. In 2013 the receivers of co-creator Shuster get the remaining half.

Sean Durkin Talks Martha Marcy May Marlene, Elizabeth Olsen's Face and Directing Like a Coach

It’s every young filmmaker’s dream scenario: Break through and sell your film at Sundance before making the rounds at not one, not two, not three, but four major international festivals. Then bring it home and watch it open strong in limited release ahead of a likely awards campaign that will find you back in the spotlight while developing your eagerly anticipated follow-up. Think it’s too good to be true? Meet Sean Durkin. Durkin’s feature debut, Martha Marcy May Marlene, made its way to theaters Friday as one of 2011’s most critically acclaimed efforts. Starring Elizabeth Olsen in her own shattering debut as a cult escapee whose refuge with her sister and brother-in-law (Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy) is riven by flashbacks and other paranoiac delusions, Martha is both a textbook example of modest, mood-driven low-budget filmmaking and a case study in collaboration: The film was co-produced and developed in concert with Durkin’s partners at Borderline Films, which he founded with multi-hyphenate peers Josh Mond and Antonio Campos. Durkin recently spoke to Movieline about conceiving, casting, shaping, making and living with Martha, one of the more rousing indie success stories of this or any year. I’ve read more and more into your background over the last nine months as this film made the festival rounds, but let me hear it from you: How did you get into filmmaking? I was really into writing short fiction and also photography when I was a kid. I kind of always knew I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I never really did it. I was a lot more focused on sports growing up. Really? Yeah, I was a soccer player, and I was really into basketball. Soccer was very much my focus. I went to my first college to play soccer. And then as I got there, I just had this realization that I’d had this idea of being a filmmaker in the back of my head for so long, and I was writing fiction and taking pictures and merging those two, and about two and a half years into college I decided to transfer — and I got into NYU. Once I got in there and started making films, I met Josh [Mond] and Antonio [Campos], my two partners, and we just immediately started working. And we never looked back. How did that partnership develop? How did you determine what you wanted and that you could or should go for it? Josh and I were in the same class where you make these one-minute films, and we were in the same group. We just started making these short black-and-white films together. And we started talking about film in general; we both wanted to use NYU to find our crew and start our company. Naturally working together and becoming friends, we started to do that, and then we met Antonio soon after and started collaborating with him. It was a very gradual process. That’s just what our team became, with a few other people. We had the same goals — to have a company — and we started that company in school. But then we thought, “How are we going to transition so we can make films?” We started to do music videos, small commercials — anything we could get. We worked in casting on the side. And we decided to share all the money we made evenly to support the projects. At first, Josh and I were doing music videos while Antonio was writing Afterschool. So it was this idea of knowing how to internally develop projects and making sure that we could take care of each other and focus our energies on making films. It just kept continuing to grow from there; there was never a time when we said, “OK, we’re gonna do this now!” It just grew and grew and never stopped. How did Martha come about? Martha was an idea I first had when I got out of school. I was thinking about what I could do as a first feature, and I had this idea about making a modern-day cult film. That was it to begin with. I just started writing and reading and meeting people, then writing more and reading more and building and building. It gradually became what it was. Did you have this genre in mind for it — the psychological thriller? Yeah. Those are the kinds of films that I like. Even in my two films at NYU, one was like a horror film and the other was like a thriller; it was pretty dark. That’s just been my interest since… forever. When I was a little kid, I loved horror films. I always liked being scared. So I think it was inevitable. And that was one of the things that drew me to it — I was terrified of cults. I think that probably drew me in — being scared of groups and conforming with them. So it was always going to be that. And where it really took its shape was when I met somebody who told me about her experience — the first few weeks after, and how disorienting it was. She was lying to everyone, she thought they were following her. And when I heard that, that’s when I decided that would be the time for me to focus on. Up to that point, I had read about all the periods of cult process and getting out — five years later, rehabilitation, or how someone got it. I just decided after that meeting it would be the place to go. The filmmaking’s great, but this movie seems to really come together in the casting — this blend of newcomers and veterans? How was it assembled? For me, how you combine the acting with the script is the most important. Everything else comes after that. I mean, just get it in focus! Yeah! Acting is very much the priority. The cast was pretty much entirely handpicked by my casting director, Susan Shopmaker. I think that a lot of times, director and producers don’t let casting directors do their jobs. When you really collaborate with somebody — and I try to do this with everybody I work with — you fully collaborate and hire somebody because of their talent. Let them do their work, as long as you know you’re on the same page and you’re making the same movie and you’re working with them. Susan I’ve known for years. I worked for her for a long time. She cast all of my movies at Borderline; she always has. She’s amazing, and I’ve just let her do her thing. Basically she handpicked a lot of the cast, and there were a couple people I knew. For Martha, we wanted an unknown actress, so we held open casting for three or four weeks; we’d see every unknown actress we could see. They came in, and Lizzie was the best.

Mena Suvari to Guest-Star on American Horror Story

Mena Suvari Mena Suvari has signed on for a guest role on American Horror Story, TVLine.com reports. The American Beauty and American Pie star will play a young woman with a connection to the Harmon's house whose nickname happens to be The Black Dahlia. It's unclear whether she'll portray the same Black Dahlia murder victim whose case is still unsolved after more than 60 years. Check out the rest of today's news Suvari, who will return to the Pie fold in 2012's American Reunion, will appear in Episode 9 of the FX series.

Cinemax, Scott Rudin Adapting 'Swamplandia' (Exclusive)

Cinemax will Florida with Scott Rudin. The premium cable network has acquired Swamplandia, one half-hour comedy project from Rudin according to Karen Russell's book of the identical title. Swamplandia involves Ava Bigtree, a 12-year-old alligator wrestler who embarks with an improbable journey with the mangrove backwoods of southwest Florida as she looks for her lost sister. Searching is arrived for any author around the project, with Rudin mounted on executive produce the comedy and author Russell talking to. Feature producer Rudin (The Social Networking) has several projects setup at Cinemax, including Aaron Sorkin's untitled cable news drama with Shaun Daniels, that was acquired to series in September. Additionally, Rudin is mounted on Noah Baumbach's adaptation of Jonathan Frazen's The Corrections and Cynthia Mort's half-hour comedy according to scribe Mary Karr's existence. Swamplandia marks Russell's first novel and 2nd book overall. Her work has made an appearance within the anthology The Very Best American Short Tales and also the NYer, amongst others. Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com Twitter: @Snoodit Related Subjects Cinemax Scott Rudin TV Development

Billy Burke, Taylor Lautner and Rachelle Lefervre to Cement Their Status as Celebrities

Rachelle Lefervre, Taylor Lautner and Billy Burke are following within the foot prints of Lana Turner, George Clooney and 100s of other cinema symbols. Literally! The hands and foot prints from the 'Twilight' trio is going to be immortalized in concrete in the legendary Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The large event (book your tickets to L.A. now!) happens November 3., just two days before 'Breaking Beginning, Part 1' opens. Reckon that proves for good whether they are real celebrities. [via HollywoodLife] [Photo: WireImage] The Twilight Saga: Breaking Beginning - Part 1 See All Moviefone Art galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook RELATED

Hindsight (Pureun sogeum)

A CJ Entertainment presentation of a Media and Cinema Studioblue production. (International sales: CJ Entertainment, Seoul.) Produced by Ahn Soo-hyun, Lee Hyeon-seung. Executive producer, Katherine Kim. Directed, written by Lee Hyeon-seung.With: Song Kang-ho, Shin Sae-kyung, Chun Jung-myung, Lee Jong-hyeok, Kim Min-jun, Yoon Yeo-jeong, Esom.Splendid setpieces and a typically charming perf from Korean superstar Song Kang-ho adds up to not very much at all in "Hindsight." The long-anticipated return of Lee Hyeon-seung, director of "Il Mare" (remade Stateside as "The Lake House"), this visually pleasing but confused and unsatisfying thriller follows a retired gangster whose friendship with a teenage sharpshooter could lead to love or death. Pic underperformed locally in September, garnering a mere 5.6 billion won ($4.8 million), and while its helmer's rep will bring some international attention, it's likely to remain a cult item. Like so many thrillers determined to undermine their own climax, the pic opens with a life-or-death standoff. Elfin markswoman Se-bin (Shin Sae-kyung) takes aim at retired Seoul gangster Doo-heon (Song) and shoots him at point-blank range. Yarn then flashes back to the cooking class where the pair met: Doo-heon plans to open a restaurant catering to his gangster comrades, just like he's seen in Hong Kong movies, while Se-bin appears to be a typical sulky teenager, annoyed by Doo-heon's inability to prepare food properly. As it turns out, Se-bin was once a competitive shooter in line for the national championship, but her prospects were cut short by injuries sustained in a car accident. While not explicitly stated, it's implied she borrowed money from Busan's crime syndicate, and to pay it back, she accepted a contract to kill Doo-hoen. Doo-heon's flirtatious nature begins to melt Se-bin's icy veneer, but her gal pal Eun-jung (Esom) tries to run him down, seemingly to help out her friend, although Se-bin never asked her to do so. Doo-hoen erroneously concludes gangsters are after him and heads to Seoul to investigate, leading to further dangerous complications and misunderstandings. Knotty plot details and a nagging opacity about character motivations keep the story from flowing smoothly. Nonetheless, there are several memorable scenes: Lee's handling of a knife fight in Doo-heon's kitchen is masterful, and a climactic car chase through South Korea's farmland and subsequent shootout are exquisitely realized. These scenes are individually well-directed, making it all the more disappointing that the script never finds its groove. Even worse, the overlong drama concludes with an absurd coda completely at odds with what precedes it. Song juggles dramatic and whimsical moments with aplomb, his easy charm as commanding as ever. Made up to look like some manga artist's malevolent daydream, Shin still manages to be believable as an emotionally conflicted young woman. As Doo-heon's scar-faced buddy, One-Eye, Chun Jung-myung is intriguing but never quite emerges as a three-dimensional character. HD lensing by Kim Byung-seo ("Castaway on the Moon") offers a glorious postcard of the city's beaches and streets. Sound is as crisp as the images are beautiful, and the jazz-flecked score by Kwon Sung-min and Han So-yeon reps a sophisticated delight. Korean title, which riffs on Doo-heon's obsession with cooking, translates as "blue salt."Camera (color, widescreen, HD), Kim Byung-seo; editors, Kim Sang-bum, Yoo Sung-yup; music, Kwon Sung-min, Han So-yeon; production designer, Lee Ha-jun; costume designer, Choi Se-yeon; sound (Dolby Digital), Sung Ji-young, Hong Ye-young; associate producer, Lee Sang-moo. Reviewed at Busan Film Festival (Korean Cinema Today), Oct. 9, 2011. Running time: 121 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

NBC O&Os to air 'Steve Harvey'

Producer Endemol USA has inked a deal with NBC to air syndie yakker "Steve Harvey'' on 10 of the Peacock's O&Os starting next fall, when the "Family Feud'' host's hourlong talk show is skedded to debut. The series will air on flagship station WNBC in Gotham, as well as KNBC in L.A., WMAQ Chicago, WRC Washington and KXAS Dallas-Fort Worth, among others. Harvey has had a successful run with his syndicated radio show, which began in 2000, as well as with his advice-book career. A feature-film adaptation of his book "Think Like a Lady, Act Like a Man'' is currently in development at Screen Gems. Contact Sam Thielman at sam.thielman@variety.com