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There is little in this world more heartwarming than tales of how fascinating real-life stories make their way from touching Sunday newspaper features to full-blown Hollywood lust objects, complete with nasty bidding wars that create overnight millionaires out of good-natured souls engaged in acts of movie-ready charity. Today's WSJ recounts how NY Times reporter Warren St. John's article on Luma Mufleh, a Jordan-born woman who became a soccer coach for the "Fugees," an adorable collection of kids from various war-ravaged countries who were then displaced from their Clarkston, GA soccer field, made the journey from the Times' pages to big-screen-tearjerker-in-development. As all such stories must, this one begins with "mercurial" (read: blunt-object-hurling) uberproducer Scott Rudin given just cause to maim an employee, and ends with an acquisition by a big studio:

Early on Jan. 21, Hollywood producer Scott Rudin sent up an urgent flare to his top deputy. He had just read a heartwarming New York Times story about a group of refugee kids playing soccer in Clarkston, Ga., and was desperate to win the movie rights.

Four days later, though, Mr. Rudin was bellyaching in a snarky email to top studio executives at Sony Corp. and Walt Disney Co. about a frenzied auction that had ensued, in which he was one of the losers despite an impassioned pitch and big-money bid. On a list of "some things I learned yesterday," Mr. Rudin included this as lesson No. 4: "When someone says 'we want to look you in the eye,'" what they really mean is that "'we want to look Benjamin Franklin in the eye' — many, many times."

"Scott Rudin makes a lot of money," says the refugees' soccer coach, Luma Mufleh. "This is nothing to him. In the large scheme of things, what we could do with half a million dollars is a lot." [...]

Ultimately, with an upfront offer of $2.25 million against a total of $3 million, Sony had the highest bid, say people who were involved with the process. But the brass ring went to Universal, which in addition to a compelling financial offer had a couple of other inducements, including a no-strings charitable donation and a seasoned female producer, Kathleen Kennedy, who had produced "Schindler's List," among other films. Late Tuesday, that studio was told it had won the deal, and in a show of goodwill, UTA donated part of its 10% commission to the kids.

A spokeswoman for the Times confirmed that the newspaper had sold the story adaptation rights to Universal and that it would be splitting the proceeds with the coach and the reporter, with a significant portion also going to a foundation that assists Clarkston's refugee community.

Ms. Mufleh says she plans to put most of her cut of the total $3 million payment into a foundation she established for the kids. Given that a number of equipment drives have been launched for her players since the Times article ran, she adds, the most immediate need is for a permanent soccer field and a physical space for the kids to study in. "I never thought it would get up to $2 million," Ms. Mufleh says. "But it's kind of humbling to think people think that our story is worth that much. To me it says they're going to make it, and tell it right."

We'll leave it to you to go back and read the riveting middle section of the story, but with a total of $3 million on the line, it does seem that Universal is "going to make it, and tell it right." Meaning, of course, that Mufleh will find herself one day in the not-too-distant future haggling for a second ticket to the Chinese Theatre premiere, wanting to bring at least one of her Fugees to Hollywood to watch as Hilary Swank (or, if Uni gets really serious, Angelina Jolie) coaches a painstakingly racially balanced, ragtag team of soccer players to ultimate triumph in the Big Game.