Adrien Brody has sued for $3 million and is attempting to stop the film's release, not because the film bombed with critics or never got released theatrically in the U.S. (although that may be true as well), but rather because he alleges that producers lied to him in order to stop him from walking off the set.

The Oscar-winning actor allegedly signed a "pay or play" deal to star in "Giallo," directed by Italian horror king Dario Argento. About a week into production, Brody says he discovered the film was underfunded and that producers had failed to pay $640,000 into an escrow account.

Brody was prepared to walk, but was allegedly told that the film had new guaranteed funding lined up from a $2 million sale of Italian distribution rights. Producers allegedly asked Brody to sign a new agreement whereby he would continue to act and temporarily defer his $640,000 in exchange for having the "absolute right to withhold consent to the use of his likeness in the Picture" until he was paid in full.


http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/heat-vision/adrien-brody-suing-stop-release-31093

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Adrien Brody Prevails in Horror-Film Lawsuit
By DAVE ITZKOFF
November 23, 2010


Not coming soon to a theater or video store near you, by order of a federal court: the Dario Argento horror movie “Giallo,” which one of its stars, Adrien Brody, has successfully blocked from distribution or sale in the United States, The Associated Press reported.




Last month, Mr. Brody, the Academy Award-winning star of “The Pianist,” sued the makers of “Giallo,” in which he plays an investigator who is helping a woman find her kidnapped sister.

Mr. Brody said in his lawsuit that when the film’s producers were initially unable to pay him for his work he entered into a new agreement giving him the right to withhold the use of his likeness from the film if he were not fully compensated – a deal Mr. Brody said the producers broke by releasing “Giallo” on home video in the United States while still owing him hundreds of thousands of dollars.





On Monday Judge Dale S. Fischer of United States District Court in Los Angeles ruled on the matter, writing that Mr. Brody was “suffering, and will continue to suffer, immediate and irreparable harm” unless the release of the film is halted.

A lawyer representing the “Giallo” producers did not immediately comment to The A.P.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/adrien-brody-prevails-in-horror-film-lawsuit/?src=twt&twt=nytimesmovies