'Gone' film rights end up with Lee Rich

By MICHAEL FLEMING

In a scenario that mirrors the book's title, producer Lee Rich has acquired the screen rights to Phillip M. Margolin's bestselling Doubleday novel "Gone, But Not Forgotten" for a near-six-figure advance against a high-six-figure purchase price, sources said. Margolin's agent, Teresa Cavanaugh of the Jean Naggar Agency, declined comment on the deal.

Rich, whose producing deal is at Warner Bros., said he boughtthe book from his discretionary fund after giving it a second look when it began climbing the bestseller list.

Along with most producers who inspected the novel before it was published in October, Rich passed on the thriller about a female lawyer hired to defend a mysterious business mogul who's accused of being a serial killer.

Even though her client is cold and calculating, she believes he was set up and investigates, uncovering other crimes in the process.

"We read it in manuscript and passed on it, because it was very confusing at the end," said Rich.

"Our New York people, especially vice president Ruth Pomerance, took another look at it. Evidently, an editor had worked on the ending. I read it again and loved it, and right now I'm looking for a writer to do a screenplay. It has elements of 'Silence of the Lambs.' "