News

Alive Entertainment chief Philip von Alvensleben and former Columbia TriStar vp James Veres have optioned "Noble Soul," a screenplay by Joe Wallenstein, a producer and USC film school administrator.

"Soul" is a fact-based legal drama probing the Supreme Court's landmark 1966 Miranda case on criminal-arrest procedure. Wallenstein based his script on accounts passed on by his friend John Flynn, the attorney who successfully pleaded the case.

"In some quarters, Miranda was and remains a deeply unpopular decision," Wallenstein said. "However, it is crucial that all Americans remember that at no time is their liberty more precious than when it is unpopular."

A TV multihyphenate on such series as "Knots Landing" and "7th Heaven," Wallenstein is director of physical production at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is repped by Roger Strull at Preferred Artists and Dionell Guanco at Avery Management.

Financial terms of the "Noble" deal weren't disclosed.

A Los Angeles jury has ruled rocker Tommy Lee was not negligent in the death of a four-year-old boy, who drowned in his swimming pool in 2001. German-born actress Ursula Karven-Veres and her Hollywood producer husband, James Veres, sued Lee for $10 million, contending the former Motley Crue drummer should have had a fully-trained lifeguard watching the pool at his Malibu, California, villa during his son Brandon's birthday party. Lee, who shares custody of Brandon, now six, and Dylan, four, with ex-wife Pamela Anderson, avoided the fanfare at the courthouse by leaving through a back exit today after a unanimous 12-0 ruling. According to the lawsuit, Daniel Veres was unconscious only a few minutes when he was pulled from the pool but there was no one with life-saving skills on hand. Karven-Veres testified her son was afraid of water, and that she was not aware the event was a pool party. Daniel was taken to the party by his German au pair, Christian, who later left the Malibu villa to attend a concert elsewhere and asked another nanny to watch the child.