Mel Tries to Dismantle Passion Suit
Mel Gibson is looking to cut this lawsuit down to size.
In court documents filed Tuesday, the actor's legal camp requested a judge dismiss six of nine accusations leveled at Gibson by a peeved writer who says he was defrauded into taking a pay cut for his work on The Passion of the Christ screenplay.
Benedict Fitzgerald, who cowrote the script with Gibson, alleged in his Feb. 11 complaint that he was told the film's budget was between $4 million and $7 million and that Gibson wouldn't be taking a cut of the proceeds until his crew and actors had been paid. The scribe therefore agreed to a "relatively small salary," two $75,000 bonuses and 5 percent of the theatrical revenues.
An audit showed the revenue participation statements he received were off by more than $30 million, Fitzgerald claims.
Gibson notably wants the fraud allegation tossed, stating that the writer had to have known the actual budget of the film, since estimated at $30 million, thanks to the large amount of publicity the project attracted.
"Given the tremendous marketing campaign behind The Passion, the unprecedented publicity generated before, during and after its release, and plaintiff's unbridled enthusiasm for the project, there is little doubt [he] was on notice as to the actual budget and production," the new filing states.
Also thanks to all that publicity—both positive and negative, if memory serves—The Passion of the Christ went on to gross $370 million domestically.
"Moreover, it is objectively unreasonable for the plaintiff to contend that he had no reason to suspect either the size of the budget—or the fact that Mel Gibson profited from the film—seven months after he alleges that he received his first participation statement on June 28, 2004," the Oscar winner's lawyer contends.
Fitzgerald also waited too long to sue, the motion states, and he hasn't given any good reason for the delay.
A hearing is scheduled for June 20. Gibson's Icon Productions, which was also behind his 2006 opus Apocalypto, is also named as a defendant.
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