James Franco may be Hollywood's most accomplished, out there polyglot, but one former professor isn't too happy with how the Oscar nominee has spoken publicly of his time as a film student at NYU. José Angel Santana, who was fired in 2011, filed a lawsuit against the actor for calling him "awful" and a "bad teacher" while doing the press rounds for The Broken Tower. “Whoever was in Clint Eastwood’s chair at the Republican National Convention was more present than Mr. Franco was in my classes,” Santana told the NY Post. Oh snap did he just make a Clint RNC chair joke??
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After reading the statement that Martin Scorsese's representatives released in response to the lawsuit that's been filed against him by Cecchi Gori Pictures over a project called Silence, I think I can save both sides a bundle in lawyer's fees and, ultimately, production costs. (If it could actually ever be financed.) more »
The latest in a string of big budget studio movie lawsuits has been lobbed at the makers of Men in Black 3, with extra Danika Gerner claiming that she was outfitted with a costume that led to her suffering "serious bodily injuries" during filming last May. The curious part: Reports give no clues as to just how Gerner's costume injured her, or which background character she played. More on the litigious wardrobe malfunction after the jump.
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Of all the random shenanigans actor/filmmaker/online purveyor of fine goods Vincent Gallo has pulled, suing the city of Los Angeles kind of makes the most sense of them all. Consider: According to TMZ, Gallo filed a lawsuit to shut down the Arts District Business Improvement District plan, which uses taxpayer money to patrol, safeguard, and improve the downtown L.A. arts district. Gallo reportedly wants the program shut down and $1.3 million returned because it's purportedly wasteful and provides "no benefit." In other news: The Brown Bunny star's personal services are still available for purchase! Now that's money well spent, I'm sure. [TMZ]
To be fair, nothing in Jesse Eisenberg's recently filed lawsuit claims that he wishes he could take back his five-minute cameo in the low budget horror pic Camp Hell, about evil unleashing a bloodbath at a Christian youth retreat. (That's just a guess.) The actor is simply a stickler for truth in advertising and wants his fans to know he's "not the star of and does not appear in a prominent role in Camp Hell." As for co-stars Bruce Davison, Dana Delaney, and Andrew McCarthy... well, you're kinda stuck. Watch the unintentional horrors unfold in the trailer after the jump!
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The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is the film industry's encyclopedia of data for filmmakers and actors, providing a wealth of information about the movies, past and present, and the people who make them (or aspire to). But was the IMDb in the wrong when it published the legal age of an actress/IMDb Pro user -- and did that act warrant the $1 million lawsuit she's now leveling at the website?
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Remember this summer's Hangover Part II? The Todd Phillips sequel about American pals who indulge in blacked-out Bangkok escapades involving kidnapped Buddhist monks, a chain-smoking monkey, Toyota car chases, kathoey prostitutes, Russian mobsters and Mike Tyson singing an obscure '80s song from Murray Head? Well, now someone is claiming that the critically disappointing blockbuster was based on his own life, and he's suing the filmmakers.
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"The only thing I learned on this internship was to be more picky in choosing employment opportunities... Black Swan had more than $300 million in revenues. If they paid us, it wouldn't make a big difference to them, but it would make a huge difference to us." Recent college grad Alex Footman didn't pick up many useful lessons during his time making coffee on the set of the Darren Aronofsky Oscar pic, but he and a fellow intern are attempting to change how Hollywood exploits labor does business. Good luck to the little guys? [NYT via MovieCityNews]
Back in 2007, during the filming of Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen and his film crew stormed a California bingo hall. They asked the unsuspecting patrons to sign Standard Consent Agreements, alleged that they were filming a "documentary-style film," and then Bruno was invited on stage to call numbers. Only instead of just calling numbers, the flamboyant Austrian character related each digit to a milestone in his relationship with a former gay partner -- a showy extreme that ended in tears, a call to the paramedics, security officers forcibly removing Cohen, a "brain bleed" and a lawsuit against NBC Universal, that we learn today, the studio has won.
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Forget disgruntled theater owners: the tattoo artist who inked Mike Tyson's face back in 2003 is suing Warner Bros. over The Hangover Part II, claiming copyright infringement of his famous work. The tribal face tattoo, which Ed Helms spoofs in the sequel in a clear nod to Tyson, not only shows up in the film, it's prominently featured in the film's marketing campaign -- and that could mean big trouble for Warner Bros.
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Yesterday was Thursday, when it seems the folks at Sony were in such a good mood that they dismissed their complaints of breach of contract against the Strause brothers, VFX experts and makers of last November's indie alien invasion pic Skyline. The strongly worded charges originally accused the Strauses' Hydraulx Entertainment of using Battle: Los Angeles equipment to make their own competing sci-fi flick, but you know what helps smooth over disputes like this? Discovering that Skyline's effects were completely different from those in Battle: Los Angeles. Also: Having $35 million in your pocket.
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Earlier today we were tickled by tales of Bob and Harvey Weinstein's genius early '80s sexifying shenanigans, but this afternoon brings allegations of shady accounting and legal chicanery lobbied by none other than former collaborator Michael Moore, who claims the Weinsteins deceived him out of millions in profits from his 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Naturally, we wonder: What's this mean for the Oscar race?
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