The U.S.-made biopic about Karla Homolka is again closing in on Canadian theaters and, according to its producer, is close to signing deals that will put Karla into theaters on both sides of the border sometime in the next two months.

But the exact date and its distributors are a secret for now, says producer/writer Michael Sellers.

‘We appear to be on the verge of closing a deal,’ he says, but won’t release the details until he’s sure he won’t ‘get left at the altar again.’

The controversial picture – which recounts the murders of Ontario teenagers Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy at the hands of Homolka and then-husband Paul Bernardo – was pulled from the World Film Festival in Montreal in August amid public outcry and the objections of corporate sponsor Air Canada.

The picture had previously been eyeing a summer or fall release, but was delayed by the furor following Homolka’s release from prison.

‘The good thing about not screening in the Montreal film festival is it gave us a couple more months to keep working on it. This is a very, very delicate film. Tiny nuances make a difference,’ says Sellers.

WFF and Karla were brought together by filmmaker Peter Simpson, who is repping the film, says Sellers. Simpson himself came under fire in 2000 when he tried to make a movie about Homolka and Bernardo, working from the Stephen Williams book Invisible Darkness.

Sellers says he was ‘surprised’ when WFF boss Serge Losqiue selected his film.

Karla also recently cleared its greatest legal obstacle when the lawyer representing the French and Mahaffy families backed off from possible legal action. Tim Danson had earlier threatened to try to have the film barred from Canada under anti-child pornography laws, but, having now seen the film, says there’s ‘no legal basis to stop it.’

‘We’ve satisfied ourselves it’s not illegal,’ he told Canadian Press.

Danson objected only to one shot – eight frames, according to Sellers – in which an actress playing one of the teenage victims is partially nude.

‘At regular speed you get the impression the girl was nude, but he made the point that if you went frame by frame on a DVD you might see something,’ says Sellers. The shot has been removed. ‘Otherwise it’s the same.’

Karla stars Laura Prepon (That ’70s Show) as Homolka and Misha Collins (24) as Bernardo. It is produced by L.A.’s Quantum Entertainment and directed by Joel Bender.