Last month we reported on a lawsuit Adrien Brody had brought against the producers of the Dario Argento movie, Giallo, in which Brody stars. The actor claimed he hadn’t been paid and so he wanted the makers to stop using his image in connection with the flick.
Well now he’s won his suit, according to THR, which means the producers have to either pony up the cash Brody wants or take his picture off any and all posters, DVD covers or anything to do with the flick (Brody didn’t try to completely stop distribution of the movie, just the use of this image in connection with it).
The dispute sprang up after Brody apparently nearly left during shooting when he discovered his $640,000 fee, which was supposed to held in an escrow account, had never been deposited.
He claims the producers then told him that they were getting new funding, and that everything would be ok. They then got him to agree to sign a new deal, where he would continue to act and temporarily defer his $640,000 in exchange for having the “absolute right to withhold consent to the use of his likeness in the Picture” until he was paid in full.
Brody says the claimed new funding was a lie, that he never got paid, and that when he tried to exercise his rights to stop them using his likeness in the movie, producers ignored him and told him he would never get a dime.
All this could now cost the producers a lot more than $640,000 they were originally supposed to pay Brody, as they either have to pull anything with Brody’s image and release it not mentioning he’s in it, or give him $3 million which he just won in his lawsuit. The movies certainly can be a mucky business.