NY judge nixes Douglas ex's 'Wall Street' lawsuit

NEW YORK - Michael Douglas' ex-wife has lost a bid to cash in on his earnings from his recent "Wall Street" follow-up, with a judge saying her case is too much of a Hollywood divorce to set a sequel in a New York court.

A Manhattan judge dismissed Diandra Douglas' lawsuit against the Academy Award-winning actor in a ruling made public Monday. The judge said the dispute doesn't belong in a New York court because the former couple's complex, multimillion-dollar divorce agreement was hashed out in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"After balancing all competing interests and factors, the California court is the more convenient forum for this matter to be tried," state Supreme Court Justice Matthew F. Cooper wrote.

Michael Douglas was "very happy" with the New York lawsuit ruling, his lawyer, Marilyn B. Chinitz, said Monday. While it stuck to the question of where the case belongs, not who should win, Chinitz said she was confident the actor would prevail if his ex pursues it further. The couple divorced in 2000 after 23 years together.

Diandra Douglas' lawyer said she plans to appeal. Both Douglases have homes in New York, and "the case should be decided here," said the lawyer, Nancy Chemtob.

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"Ugly Truth" writers paint pretty picture

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In Hollywood things are rarely as they seem.
Case in point: Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith were talking about writing the romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth," opening July 24 via Lakeshore Entertainment and Columbia.
Robert Luketic directed "Ugly." He directed "Legally Blonde." Lutz and Smith wrote "Blonde." It grossed almost $100 million and jumpstarted Luketic's directing career. So it figures -- Luketic hired them to write "Ugly."




Well, actually, no. Luketic was hired after the duo finished rewriting a screenplay Nicole Eastman had written 10 years earlier. "It was one of those scripts that had been floating around for a while," Karen recalled. "At one point Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck were attached. That's when they were dating. That's how long it's been."
So how'd they get the job? Lutz: "Lakeshore called us up and asked if we wanted to rewrite it and we said yes."
Yes, but there's more to it than that. Lutz and Smith also wrote the 2006 romantic comedy "She's the Man," which starred Amanda Bynes.
Smith: "Lakeshore were financiers on it. DreamWorks had hired us to work on it. We'd never really gotten to know Tom and Gary at Lakeshore (chairman & CEO Tom Rosenberg and president Gary Lucchesi) so we decided one day that we should remedy that." So they sat down to talk to Rosenberg and "the very first thing he brought up was the script 'The Ugly Truth.'"
"We started talking about it and it led to a really great partnership with them."

In "Ugly" Katherine Heigl plays Abby Richter, a romantically challenged morning show producer seeking Mr. Perfect, but still hopelessly single. The plot thickens when she's teamed up with the show's new in-your-face reporter Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) who knows "the ugly truth" about what makes men and women tick.... more here

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Natasha Henstridge - the voice of the female lead in "Time Jumper"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Stan Lee has hired Natasha Henstridge to voice the female lead in "Time Jumper," his newest comic invention.




The "digital comic book-style thriller," as Lee describes it, debuts Thursday at the big Comic-Con gathering in San Diego, where Lee will host a panel and showcase footage from the project. Disney's home entertainment division is distributing "Jumper" via cell phone and the Web in 10 serialized five- to eight-minute episodes to be released every two weeks through December.
"'Time Jumper' is a little bit different than anything that I have done before," Lee said. "We think it is a brand new concept and something that could really be a winner."

"Jumper" follows Terry Dixon, a college student in possession of his late father's time-travel invention, the Articulus. After his brother goes missing, Dixon is recruited by H.U.N.T. (Heroes United, Noble and True), a secret crime-fighting unit that sends him through time to thwart Charity Vile, leader of the criminal cartel, C.U.L.T. (Council of Unstoppable, Lethal Terrorists).
Henstridge will voice Vyle, the story's villain. Lee cameos as Lee Excelsior, CEO of H.U.N.T..... more here

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