Bush Aide Vetoes Swing Vote
Touchtone Pictures / Ben Glass
Kelsey Grammer's heart trouble might have cleared up, but now he has a massive headache to contend with.
Politics as usual has turned into lawsuits as usual, with a former aide to President Bush filing suit against Grammer, his production company, Kevin Costner and the producers of the film Swing Vote, alleging key plot points and marketing ideas were pinched from a pitch the politico delivered to Grammer back in 2006.
Bradley Blakeman, a former deputy assistant to the current Oval Office denizen and current political commentary, filed the copyright infringement claim in Long Island federal court Thursday.
Bet Dennis Hopper is glad he got cut out of the movie now.
Blakeman left no potential defendant unscathed, also including the Walt Disney Company, Touchstone Pictures, Treehouse Films, director Joshua Michael Stern, screenwriter Jason Richman, various producers and, for good measure, John and Jane Does 1-10 in the lawsuit.
The plaintiff claims he met with Grammer back in 2006, giving the former Frasier a screenplay titled Go November.
He claims Grammer agreed to develop the project and star as the main character, the sitting Republican president, a similar—too similar, to Blakeman—role as Grammer plays in Swing Vote.
Blakeman says that the film contains "dozens of identical events that occur in virtually the same sequence, as well as numerous other similarities regarding characters, plot and tone" as his original screenplay.
"The substantial similarities...are remarkable and can only be explained by a deliberate copying on the part of the defendants," the suit states.
"Essentially, except for the character names...the entire concept of Swing Vote...was taken from the copyrighted work."
Though Costner and the production companies named in the suit have not commented on the legal action, Grammer's spokesman was quick to lash out at what he deemed not only a "frivolous" suit but a "waste of time."
"I am not sure why Kelsey was even named in this suit," Stan Rosenfield said. "He was an actor who signed on to the project after the script was written."
Blakeman is seeking unspecified (read: huge) damages.
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