Avik Gilboa/WireImage.comAll play and no pay makes Johnny a poor boy.
John Cusack has filed a lawsuit against a production company, claiming he was never paid $4.5 million to star in an action-thriller called Stopping Power. Cusack said his contract called for him to get paid even if the flick didn't get made.
It didn't.
Now he wants his cash.
According to the complaint, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the 42-year-old actor contends Intermedia Film Equities USA and related parties owe him full compensation for services he rendered, including a $50,000 payment to cover the cost of Cusack's staff while on location, as well as out-of-pocket expenses for a trip he took to Germany. (View the lawsuit.)
"It was the intent of the Intermedia Parties to fraudulently induce Cusack and others to commit to the picture, travel to Germany, and then attempt to force Plaintiffs to renegotiate their agreement and accept speculative deferred compensation in place of Cusack's guaranteed fixed compensation," read court documents.
When Cusack refused to renegotiate the pact and demanded the company honor its side of the bargain, Intermedia abruptly canceled production on the flick and refused to pay anything.
The Gross Pointe Blank star is seeking more than $5.6 million in general and special damages.
A rep for Intermedia and Cusack's high-powered attorney, Martin Singer, could not be reached for comment.
Stopping Power, which was set to be directed by Jan de Bont (Speed, Twister), was the story of a fugitive who carjacks an RV with a young girl and her father inside.
Now that he's out of Power, Cusack is about to start filming helmer Roland Emmerich's latest disaster opus, 2012, about a group of people facing a series of natural disasters. That film is expected to unspool in July 2009.