Date: 11th May 2001

Spielberg's Movie Company Facing New Fraud Lawsuit


LATEST: Hollywood movie giants DREAMWORKS are facing fresh claims of fraud from the producer of a movie directed by BARRY LEVINSON. JEROME O'CONNOR, producer of EVERLASTING PIECE, AN (2000), was already suing the company - headed by director STEVEN SPIELBERG and his high-profile pals JEFFREY KATZENBERG and DAVID GEFFEN - for $10 million (œ6. 3 million) for breach of contract. He has now added a claim for deliberate deception on the part of the film studio, against which he will be seeking an additional $100 million (œ63 million) in punitive damages. The new suit, filed at Los Angeles Federal Court, alleges that DreamWorks not only suppressed the film at the request of the British Government, but also obtained the rights to the film by misleading O'Connor and Levinson. JURASSIC PARK (1993) director Spielberg is at the centre of the new suit - it is alleged that it was he who told RAIN MAN (1988) film-maker Levinson that the film would have to be made with DreamWorks, because they had supposedly acquired the production and distribution rights. The lawsuit alleges that that statement was false. Both Levinson and O'Connor claim that they would rather another studio had made the flick. Levinson has said, "I didn't want to make this movie with that studio. I had the cash to do it independently, and wanted to. But I believed that they had a contract and owned the script, which they did not. " (MCM/PR/PDD)

Source: WENN