WB revs tyros' 'Motor'

Maysville to produce spec about the making of the Edsel

By CHRISTIAN MOERK

Four decades after being rejected by the American driving public, the Edsel is finally finding satisfied customers.

Warner Bros. on Sunday got behind the wheel of spec script "Motor City," a murder mystery set against the backdrop of the automotive laughingstock's 1957 launch.

Financial details were not disclosed, though the sale price was said to be low- against mid-six figures with a decent backend.

Written by tyro scribes (and Detroit natives) Carlo Bernard and Doug Myro, "Motor" centers on an over-the-hill marketing whiz who gets drafted by a high-ranking VP at the Ford Motor Co. whose own job is on the line; the veep needs an outsider to work on the a secret "X-car" project, later revealed to be the Edsel.

While trying to make a success out of the troubled car model, the marketing exec uncovers a web of intrigue and corruption at the plant, involving the cover-up of a murder.

Lawrence Mattis of Gotham management/production outfit Circle of Confusion repped Bernard and Myro in the deal. Mattis took the script to creative exec Kevin Field at George Clooney's WB-based shingle Maysville Pictures, which will produce.

Until recently, boyhood friends Bernard and Myro worked as creative assistants for helmer Michael Mann on the upcoming Big Tobacco thriller "The Insider."