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Libel insurance woes derail Diana movie

HOLLYWOOD, July 7 (UPI) -- An insurance issue derailed the pending release of a documentary about a supposed coverup in the death of Britain's Princess Diana, its producers said.

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"Unlawful Killing" has been shelved permanently after Allied Stars was unable to obtain insurance that would indemnify them from potential lawsuits involving the film's contents.

"Unlawful Killing" was financed by Mohamed Al-Fayed, the billionaire father of Dodi Al-Fayed, Diana's boyfriend who perished with her in a spectacular 1997 car wreck in Paris. Mohamed Al-Fayed has long suspected the royal family had a role in the incident.

"It became undoable," Allied President Conor Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter. "We are all disappointed."

The Reporter said "Unlawful Killing" was set for release on Aug. 31 in the United States and other foreign markets, but not in France or Great Britain. Still, Allied had to make 87 cuts to the film to make it comply with British libel law.

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Report: J-Lo developing gay family drama

LOS ANGELES, July 7 (UPI) -- Jennifer Lopez is working on a television drama about a lesbian couple raising a family, sources told The Hollywood Reporter.

THR said Lopez is acting as executive producer of the proposed series, which is under development for ABC Family by Nuyorican Productions.

The untitled series revolves around a homosexual couple that already has several children bringing a new teenager into the household. If picked up, the series would join the ABC Family lineup, which THR said is aimed at the younger female audience.

This won't be J-Lo's first stint as an executive producer. The Reporter said the actress and "American Idol" judge has overseen projects including MTV's "Dancelife."


Cruise mum as Holmes visits lawyer

NEW YORK, July 7 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Tom Cruise's divorce lawyer said he won't comment yet on where the star will file divorce papers or if he'll seek joint custody of daughter Suri.

"Tactically we can't say where Tom will file a divorce case and if he'll be seeking joint custody of Suri," Bert Fields told the BBC. "We are letting 'the other side' play the media until they wear everyone out and then we'll have something to say."

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The statement came Friday when actress Katie Holmes, 33, was spotted by witnesses entering the New York offices of the law firm representing her in the divorce. She was spotted in midtown Manhattan at the offices of Aronson, Mayefsky and Sloan with four bodyguards, People magazine reported.

Dennis Wasser, the Hollywood-based lead attorney for Cruise, 50, also represented him in his divorce from Nicole Kidman.


Author Gabriel Garcia Marquez has dementia

CARTAGENA, Colombia, July 7 (UPI) -- Colombian author and Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez is suffering from dementia and has been forced to stop writing, his brother announced.

The 84-year-old author, best known for the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude," which has sold more than 30 million copies, is currently in the middle of writing his autobiography, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday. Brother Jaime Garcia Marquez told students at a lecture in Cartagena his brother no longer has the mental faculties to complete the book, "Living to Tell the Tale."

"He is doing well physically, but he has been suffering from dementia for a long time," he said. "From a physical standpoint he's doing well, although he now has some memory lapses" that have been made worse by a battle with lymphatic cancer in 1999.

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"Dementia runs in our family and he's now suffering the ravages prematurely due to the cancer that put him almost on the verge of death," he said.

Garcia Marquez, who lives in Mexico, was a pioneer of the literary school of magical realism, producing the novels "Love in the Time of Cholera," "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" and "The General in His Labyrinth."

"He still has the humor, joy and enthusiasm that he has always had," his brother told his students.

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