Dr. Jack Kevorkian biopic: According to The Hollywood Reporter, producer Steve Jones has acquired rights for a film about Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the advocate of doctor-assisted suicide who is serving a 10- to 25-year prison term.

Filmmaker Barbara Kopple is attached to direct. Jones' Bee Holder Prods. has secured story rights to an unpublished biography on which Kevorkian is cooperating with Neal Nicol, his assistant of 25 years, and Harry Wylie, a longtime friend.

The project marks the first time that the doctor, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 and is serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison in Michigan, has authorized any media-based project surrounding his life and efforts in assisted suicide.