Mel Gibson and his company Icon Productions is suing Voltage Pictures for breach of contract regarding their co-production agreement on the film “The Professor and the Madman.”
The suit, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims Voltage Pictures committed breach of contract and promissory fraud when the company “disregarded their contractual obligations” by failing to provide a budget, shoot in the agreed upon locations and provide Gibson and Icon approval on the film’s final cut and pay fees owed.
Gibson and his producing partner Bruce Davey are asking the court for unspecified damages as well as the right to terminate the agreement and regain rights to the film.
Voltage CEO Nicholas Chartier is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“Among other things, Defendants failed to provide Icon — much less get its approval of — a final budget for the Picture,” the complaint reads. “Despite a clear requirement to do so, Defendants failed to secure a completion bond, and as such there is no completion guarantor to break disputes between the parties on budget or schedule.”
“Moreover, notwithstanding that the Agreements specify the picture will be shot in part in Oxford, England, Defendants refused to allow critical scenes from the agreed upon screenplay to be shot there,” the suit continues.
The suit also claims Voltage prevented writer/director Farhad Safinia from completing a cut of the movie to be approved by Gibson and goes on to say that the company screened part of an unapproved version of the film to distributors at the Cannes Film Festival.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
Oscars 2017: What's Next for This Year's Winners? (Photos)
For every filmmaker, winning an Academy Award is the peak of their careers. But as soon as the after-parties are over, it's right back to work, as Hollywood's biggest winners often already have their next projects in the works. For winners like Damien Chazelle, Viola Davis and the stars of "Moonlight," this year is no different. Here's where you can catch them next.
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Best Actress winner Emma Stone will return to the big screen later this year in "Battle of the Sexes," a comedy biopic based on Billie Jean King's famous 1973 tennis match against Bobby Riggs. Linus Sandgren, who won Best Cinematography for "La La Land," is also on board.
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Viola Davis, of course, will head back to Shondaland to film Season 4 of "How to Get Away With Murder." She will also play the legendary abolitionist Harriet Tubman in a biopic about the Underground Railroad.
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Mahershala Ali had a mammoth 2016 with two very different but equally praised performances: his Oscar-winning supporting role in "Moonlight" and his performance as the devious Harlem kingpin Cottonmouth on Netflix's "Luke Cage." He will have a chance to dive back into the world of graphic novels next year in James Cameron's adaptation of the manga "Alita: Battle Angel."
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After winning Best Actor for playing Lee Chandler in "Manchester by the Sea," Casey Affleck is moving on to write, direct and star in "Light of My Life" about a father and daughter lost in the woods. He will also play famed explorer Meriwether Lewis in next year's HBO miniseries about the Lewis and Clark expedition.
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Though he was on the business end of that envelope flub, Damien Chazelle was still a big winner having received the Best Director Oscar for "La La Land." Next, he'll work again with Ryan Gosling on the biopic "First Man," which tells the story of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong.
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Barry Jenkins was floored when "Moonlight" won Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay. Now he's going to continue to tell stories about African-American characters by directing episode 6 of Netflix's "Dear White People," due out later this year.
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Kenneth Lonergan moved audiences to both laughter and tears with his Oscar-winning screenplay for "Manchester by the Sea." Later this year, he will jump from original writing to adapted, as he turns E.M. Forester's novel "Howards End" into a Starz miniseries. The novel tackles the clash between social classes in early 20th century England, as three families with different levels of wealth cross paths.
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Ezra Edelman made Oscar history with his nearly eight-hour ESPN documentary "O.J.: Made in America." He's next slated to work with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill on "The Ballad of Richard Jewell," a biopic about an American security guard who saved thousands from being killed by a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, only to be falsely accused of terrorism by the press and public.
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Byron Howard and Rich Moore earned Disney yet another Oscar with "Zootopia," and now they are moving on to new projects for the Mouse House. Moore will work on the sequel to his video game comedy "Wreck-It Ralph," while Howard is working on a yet-to-be-named project with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who will likely be making another run at that EGOT.
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Asghar Farhadi made the biggest political statement of the night, boycotting the event in protest of Donald Trump's travel ban. Now, after winning his second Oscar with "The Salesman," he is planning a new, yet-to-be-titled film starring husband-and-wife, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
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For Damien Chazelle, Emma Stone and Viola Davis, it’s right back to the set after their Oscar victories
For every filmmaker, winning an Academy Award is the peak of their careers. But as soon as the after-parties are over, it's right back to work, as Hollywood's biggest winners often already have their next projects in the works. For winners like Damien Chazelle, Viola Davis and the stars of "Moonlight," this year is no different. Here's where you can catch them next.
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