IMDb Strikes Back at 'Selfish' Actress Suing Over Age Disclosure (Exclusive)

The Internet Movie Database has launched a blistering counterattack against the anonymous actress who sued the service for revealing her age.our editor recommendsSAG and AFTRA Condemn IMDb Revealing Performers' AgesActress Sues IMDb for $1 Million for Revealing Her AgeIMDb Gets Into the Game Business With Free Mobile AppEnhanced IMDb.com App Offers Complete Coverage of Movies, TV Projects Amazon.com, owner of iMDb, believes it knows the identity of this woman, and it tells a Washington federal court that before she filed the lawsuit, she first tried to get the service to post a false birthdate so she could fool potential Hollywood employers into thinking she was younger than she actually is. Now a judge is being asked to dismiss the lawsuit so as to not perpetuate a fraud on the public. When the anonymous Texas woman sued last month, she not only sparked a guessing game about her identity, but also a larger discussion about ageism in Hollywood. "In the entertainment, youth is king," she wrote in her Oct. 13 lawsuit, leading to a round of applause among fellow actors, including the guilds SAG and AFTRA, which condemned iMDb for its policies and said the company had a moral obligation not to facilitate discrimination in employment. STORY:Actress Sues IMDb for $1 Million for Revealing Her Age IMDb isn't backing down from a debate about values. Far from it. In its motion to dismiss filed last week and obtained by THR, the company questions whether the judicial system should be used to help an actress hide her 40 years of age. According to IMDb: "Truth and justice are philosophical pillars of this Court. The perpetuation of fraud, even for an actor's career, is inconsistent with these principals. Plaintiff's attempt to manipulate the federal court system so she can censor iMDb's display of her birth date and pretend to the world that she is not 40 years old is selfish, contrary to the public interest and a frivolous abuse of this Court's resources." The company also claims to be taking the moral high ground in protecting entertainment consumers from an actress who wants to "more easily deceive the public and prospective employers about her age and potentially be considered for more roles." The woman is said to have contacted the company previously in an effort to get IMDb to print false birthdates or to remove her birthdate altogether. STORY:SAG and AFTRA Condemn IMDb Revealing Performers' Ages Three years ago, according to the court papers, the woman who iMDb suspects as the plaintiff had her lawyer send a letter attempting to get the site to change her birthdate under the excuse that the wrong date was submitted by her former manager. The woman allegedly faxed a birth certificate and a passport to iMDb's offices, but certain information was redacted so iMDb declined to make changes. This past May, the woman is said to have hired a new lawyer, who sent a warning letter that threatened a class action lawsuit. The threats didn't move iMDB either. So the lawyer filed a lawsuit last month. Based upon a comparison of these past communications and the complaint, IMDb says it is confident the lawsuit was filed by the same woman. Nevertheless, the company says it can't be totally certain of her identity, pointing to certain discrepencies. Absent certainty, it says that it will be prejudiced if this woman is allowed to remain anonymous: "IMDb.com cannot fairly defend against the Complaint in this case with the identity of the plaintiff secreted." The judge is being asked to dismiss the case because the original lawsuit was an alleged violation of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10(a). IMDb believes the plaintiff has no proper reason to file her case anonymously, so the company is attempting to get the case dismissed if the woman doesn't step forward to reveal herself. In the 9th Circuit, plaintiffs are allowed to proceed anonymously when doing so is justified by the harm that would be inflicted on the party if he or she is revealed. (Here's THR's analysis of whether IMDb can force the woman to reveal herself.) IMDb says the plaintiff hasn't made specific allegations or shown evidence of any retaliation beyond "generic damage and economic injury." On the contrary, the company says it will be hurt if this case is allowed to go forward in this fashion. E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com Twitter: @eriqgardner IMDB

Sports' struggles can teach Hollywood

A sparse crowd attends a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies this summer at Dodger Stadium. For years Hollywood's leading players have taken refuge from their mission to entertain the world by settling into choice seats at Lakers and Dodgers games -- especially when the local teams were winning championships.So what can the town glean from the sports world's current convulsions -- including labor strife threatening to scrub the NBA season and the auction of the Dodgers, after a public meltdown that ought to have people wondering who will play owners Frank and Jamie McCourt in the movie?These situations aren't completely analogous, but parallels to entertainment do offer some lessons.Under the McCourts, the Dodgers managed to alienate fans of what appeared to be one of baseball's unshakable attractions. Even when the team was mediocre the franchise consistently drew well, in part because visiting Dodger Stadium was such a pleasant experience.It's possible, in other words, to mismanage a beloved property into a temporary shambles. And on the entertainment side, the deluge of alternatives means such missteps can wreak havoc faster than ever.As for the NBA, where the lockout has claimed part of the season and could jeopardize the whole thing, it's hard not to watch charges and counter-charges flying via Twitter without hearing echoes of the last writers strike.Admittedly, the talent guilds are significantly different from pro sports, since anyone drawing an NBA or NFL paycheck these days is raking in a sizable amount of money. There aren't middle class and struggling members, as is true for many actors, writers and directors for whom unemployment is the norm and working the welcome break.There are key common threads, though, beginning with the brevity of careers (particularly in sports), which provides management a powerful bit of leverage -- nobody wants to squander their prime earning years -- and can drive a wedge between legitimate "stars" and journeymen. Billionaire owners also do a fair job impersonating major studios when insisting their broken business model actually makes them the aggrieved, needy parties.The one element of reassurance, for both Hollywood and sports, is the public's inability to hold grudges against things that delight and divert them.The NFL endured its own labor discord and promptly roared back in the ratings. Past NBA and Major League Baseball stoppages and scandals yielded predictable griping -- a pox on their over-privileged houses! -- that proved toothless once the business of thrilling playoffs and seven-game series resumed.Most people find it equally hard to stay mad at movies and TV, whether the source of friction stems from strikes or conservatives (primarily) who insist they'll boycott shows or movies because of a star or filmmaker's politics. The same goes for cable-carriage fee disputes, which almost never trigger the wholesale subscriber flight that channels dangle to weaken a distributor's resolve during negotiations before the parties inevitably reach a compromise.Ultimately, consumers are creatures of habit who don't like being forced to contemplate the people behind the curtain when it comes to their entertainment. Confront them with the fact that artists and athletes don't ply their trade strictly out of devotion to craft or the game, and they'll lash out temporarily at them, or at management.Remove the distraction and put out a product they like, however, and all is forgotten. Yet despite repeated demonstrations of this dynamic, in the heat of the moment fans and media pundits frequently sound false alarms about lingering damage and unforgiving viewers.Former Dodger Steve Garvey, who is part of a group bidding for the franchise, recently told a sports radio show, "Sports is the memory business," which reflects an alluring sense of nostalgia, infused by the warming imagery of fathers passing their passions to sons.The reality is harsher than that -- and these days, more likely involves dad watching sports alone. After all, how many young kids stay awake until midnight to watch big games almost invariably scheduled under the lights -- not to create shared memories, but rather to maximize TV revenue?For Hollywood and sports, therein lies the real lesson: Due to its excesses, sports often finds itself in the amnesia business. As for the pervasiveness of that condition, the NBA and whoever winds up owning the Dodgers ought to thank their lucky stars. Contact Brian Lowry at brian.lowry@variety.com

CBS laughs method to Monday victory

CBS was no. 1 broadcaster in key demos in most six half-hrs of primetime Monday, because the net's comedy anchors ''How I Met Your Mother'' and ''Two . 5 Men'' still outshine last year's rankings levels. ABC's ''Dancing Using the Stars'' was increasing, though still lower year upon year, however it was another weak showing for NBC's new John Williams newsmag. Based on preliminary Nielsen estimations, the CBS comedies paid for for Monday's top four entertainment-series scores among teenagers, brought as always by ''Two . 5 Men'' (5.1 rating/12 be part of grown ups 18-49, 14.5 million audiences overall) -- the night's No. 1 broadcast in 18-49, rising 19% versus. exactly the same evening last year. All the network's programs were up versus. the comparable Monday timeslot perf of this past year, with 8 p.m. anchor ''How I Met Your Mother'' (4.4/12 in 18-49, 10.4 million audiences overall) up 25% over its year-ago showing, and 8:30 p.m. newbie ''2 Broke Girls'' (4.5/11 in 18-49, 11.3 million audiences overall) up a large 50% over last year's ''Rules of Engagement.'' Closing the evening, ''Mike and Molly'' (4.2/10 in 18-49, 12. million audiences overall) was up 20% over its year-ago score, and 10 p.m. drama ''Hawaii Five-0'' (3./8 in 18-49, 10. million audiences overall) was up a tick to simply top its broadcast competition in demos for that hour. At ABC, ''Dancing Using the Stars'' (3.3/8 in 18-49, 18. million audiences overall) rallied to the best delivery since its season premiere, but that also left it about 15% below last year's performance around the comparable evening it continued to be the evening's most-viewed entertainment series overall. And also at 10, ''Castle'' (2.5/6 in 18-49, 11.3 million audiences overall) was consistent with its performance of this past year, also leading its timeslot broadcast competition as a whole audiences. Fox's ''Terra Nova'' (2.6/6 in 18-49, 7.7 million audiences overall) returned back from a week ago to put third one of the tv stations within the 8 o'clock hour. The internet maintained that standing around 9 p.m. with ''House'' (2.7/6 in 18-49, 7.5 million audiences overall), that was substantially more powerful last year within the leadoff position (3.7/10 in 18-49). NBC again battled, as ''The Sing Off'' settled for any 1.4/3 in 18-49 and 4.two million audiences overall, and newsmag ''Rock Center with John Williams'' (1./3 in 18-49, 3.5 million audiences overall) was on componen using its low-ranked debut from the previous week. ESPN will win the evening in key demos using its ''Monday Evening Football'' game between your Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles, which averaged a powerful 11.7 household rating in Nielsen's metered-market overnights. Additionally towards the cable internet, the overall game also broadcast from our marketplaces on independent stations, thus not affecting the preliminary overnights from the Large Four. Preliminary 18-49 earnings for that evening: CBS, 4./10 ABC, 3.1/8 Fox, 2.7/6 NBC and Univision, 1.3/3 CW, .6/1. As a whole audiences: ABC, 15.8 million CBS, 11.4 million Fox, 7.six million NBC, 4. million Univision, 3.two million CW, 1.3 million. Contact Ron Kissell at ron.kissell@variety.com

Academy Dinner Honors 2011 Nicholl Fellowship Those who win

Academy Announces Those who win Of 2011 Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowships Even though they are extremely most widely known for thoseother honours they hands in Feb, the Academy of movement Picture Arts and Sciences perform a much more throughout every season. Among its valued occasions happened Thursday evening in a dinner atthe Beverly Wilshire, where the26th annualDon and Gee Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowships were granted as to the Academy leader Tom Sherak referred to because the “Academy’s Magnificent 7.” The Nicholl Fellowships were established in 1985 and therefore are now chaired (and located)by new Academy governor Gale Anne Hurd, who explained she’s been in the Nicholl committee since 1989. Each one of the writing guys (or teams) will get a $35,000 prize to be able to continue developing their scripts (inspections arehanded in payments using the knowning that the readers will develop a feature-length script throughout their fellowship year), and also the Academy isn't involved otherwise in a commercial sense using the scripts by any means and holds no privileges for them. Despite the Academy awards within the mix, Sherak opened up this program by saying: “This is my personal favorite event. It’s nights such as this that If only I were a real estate agent. You need to sign each of them.” He added these couple of those who win were selected from among an archive 6,730 records through the 24 idol judges and committee people who read everything. It had been a significant evening which incorporated a rousing keynote address from David Seidler,this season’sreigning Best Original Script champion for that King’s Speech and “new Academy member”at age 74. In the reception prior to the dinner, I requested Seidler the way the Oscar has transformed his existence only at that age. Hejoked, “Producers now owe me more, however it takes them longer.” Seidler is red-colored-hot, though, getting completed two new scripts within the summer time and today starting on two rewrites. He requested me who I figured was the leading-runner to win Original Script this season and that i recommended most likely Woodsy Allen for Night time In Paris. “Well, he's me beat then,” Seidler stated. Allen at 76 would usurp Seidler asthe earliest champion ever for the reason that category, and therefore Seidler’s record might be short-resided. His speech, that they stated was focusing on to the final minute, won within the crowd and definitely provided inspiration for that authors attending. “I just simply want to speak with the authors here. Usually, you need to speak with ambitious authors and also you find yourself speaking to perspiring authors, but look, you beat the chances, you persevered and also you won,” he told the passionate crowd.”After I metwithFrancis Coppola (about writing Tucker), he stated, ‘Have your people call my people.’ I didn’t have people. I'd a buddy who had a real estate agent. I found the town at 40. It’s nice in the future in an age when many people are departing. …Don’t write for Mercedes or mortgages. Write what's inside your hearts and souls also it must have honesty and morality. We're the only real entity who are able to move souls. We ought to Occupy a Studio,” he stated to rousing applause. I sitting alongside a couple of the selected guys, Chris Bessounian and Tianna Langham, the second saying she am nervous she'd completely lost her appetite. They'd been entering their script, Guns And Saris, within the last 4 years only handled to get at the semifinals before year so that they also hedged their bets and enterted another script. Once they got the congratulatory call in the Academy, Bessounian needed to request , “Uh, which script?” He added that after the those who win’ names made an appearance on this web site lastmonth, it had been a large deal. “The most enjoyable factor was seeing our title on Deadline. It’s the house page,” he explained. Another guys selected were Dion Prepare for Cutter, John MacInnes for Outdoors The Wire, Matthew Murphy for Unicorn and Abel Vang & Burlee Vang for that Tiger’s Child. Except for Prepare (from Altus, Okla.), each one is from Los Angeles despite the fact that records were received all 50 states and round the world. Additionally to Hurd, the committee includes such notables as Avoi Marie Saint, Bill Auto technician and Naomi Foner. Previous those who win have incorporated Jason Micallef, whose new film Butter opened at Toronto Ehren Kruger, who authored Transformers: Dark From The Moon Mike Wealthy, who authored Secretariat Susannah Grant, who continued to win an Oscar jerk for Erin Brockovich and Andrew Marlowe and Terri Burns, who met as guys, married and today produce the ABC series, Castle.

Keith Urban To Undergo Throat Surgery

First Published: November 3, 2011 5:21 PM EDT Credit: Getty Images LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption Keith Urban rocks out at the 2010 CMA Music Festival at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 11, 2010Keith Urban has had to postpone his All For The Hall Benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame, scheduled for January 18 in Nashville, due to throat surgery. Keith Urban is set to undergo throat surgery later this month, to remove a polyp which has developed on his vocal chords, a rep for the country rocker said in a statement to Access Hollywood on Thursday. The surgery, an out-patient procedure, while minor, will require complete voice rest followed by an undetermined period of recuperation that will require the postponement of the All For The Hall benefit concert. Urban, the husband of Nicole Kidman, will, however, be able to handle some appearances. Although Urban has had to substantially scale back his appearances requiring multiple songs, he will be honoring his pre-existing one-song performance commitments leading up to his procedure at the end of this month, the reps statement continued. All other appearances will be rescheduled in the new year. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

'Wilde Salome' nabs first distrib

Al Pacino's passion project "Wilde Salome" has acquired its first territory for distribution, as Lucky Red-colored has bought Italian privileges towards the experimental documentary about Oscar Wilde that preemed in the Venice Int'l Film Festival. Lucky Red-colored plans a 2012 release for that cool feature doc that follows Pacino because he re-translates Wilde's once banned work "Salome." Deal was discussed by Lucky Red-colored mind Andrea Ochipinti and Arclight Films founder Gary Hamilton. "We understood that Lucky Red-colored was the best distributor with this passion project after we saw the terrific audience reaction in Venice," Hamilton stated. "Lucky Red-colored includes a proven history with interesting films like that one." Wilde Salome will participate Arclight Films' slate only at that week's American Film Market in Santa Monica. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Ben Kingsley leads cast for 'A Doll's House'

Cinema Alterna has tapped Ben Kingsley, Julian Sands, Jena Malone and Michele Martin for the lead roles in its big-screen version of "A Doll's House." Produced by Cinema Altera principal Charles Huddleston, the film is envisioned as a modern day adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic play. Huddleston will direct the film from a screenplay he adapted with Michele Martin. The Little Film Company's Clay Epstein is executive producing and handling international sales for the film. Epstein will introduce "A Doll's House" to buyers at the American Film Market. Principal photography is slated to begin in January in Cincinnati. "Ibsen's tale of a family unraveling in the face of the debt crisis is as relevant now as it was a hundred and thirty years ago," said Huddleston. "By bringing it into today's world I'm going to heighten the characters' emotional turmoil and send them on a frightening journey where their deceptions and financial decisions threaten not only their social standing but their lives." "A Doll's House" centers on a young woman's escape from an overbearing husband set during today's recession. Martin ("Assisting Venus") will play Nora Helmer, the naive young wife of a banking executive. Malone ("Pride & Prejudice") will play the role of Christine Linde, a friend of Nora's who has to decide between her loyalty to Nora and her own future while Kingsley is attached for the role of Dr. Rank, a friend to the Helmers. Sands will play Nathan Gynt, a professional in the seedy world of lending desperate people money. "A Doll's House" has been revived eight times on Broadway, most recently in 1997. Cinema Alterna plans to produce two to three feature films a year -- half for under $1 million while the other half will be in the $5 - $10 million range. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com