No Product Placement Deal for The Lincoln Lawyer, Says Lincoln

Just the Facts:

• The Lincoln Lawyer, a movie about a Los Angeles attorney who does business from the back of his Lincoln Town Car, debuts on Friday. But in an unusual twist, Lincoln said it had nothing to do with the production.
• The Lincoln Town Car is scheduled to go out of production in the fourth quarter of 2011.
• The movie is spun off the book of the same name by Michael Connelly, who says he based it on a real-life attorney who once told him "mobility, mobility, mobility" was the way to practice law.

HOLLYWOOD, California — In an unusual twist in an era of million-dollar automotive product placement deals, Lincoln told Inside Line on Tuesday that it had nothing to do with The Lincoln Lawyer, a movie about a Los Angeles attorney who does business from the back of his old Town Car. The movie debuts on Friday.

"Lincoln was not involved in the movie, but we welcome any opportunity for Lincoln products to be shed in a positive light, regardless of the occasion," said Christian Bokich, Lincoln spokesman, in response to an e-mailed query from Inside Line on Tuesday.

The Lincoln Town Car is going out of production in the fourth quarter of 2011. Lincoln has done little in the way of promoting the Town Car in recent years.

The outgoing Town Car is available for fleet customers and individual customer factory orders only through the end of the model year.

The Lincoln Town Car in the film — an older model of unidentified vintage with the vanity plate NTGUILTY — is prominently featured in the movie's trailer.

The movie stars Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Phillipe and Marisa Tomei. It is based on the book of the same name by Michael Connelly.

In a video posted on his Web site, Connelly explains that he got the idea for the book when he sat next to a lawyer at a ball game who said his office was his car. "Mobility, mobility, mobility was the way to do it," Connelly said, recalling the conversation that later turned into a book and movie deal.

Inside Line says: Lincoln gets a ton of free publicity for an aging product that appears to be destined for the graveyard. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent