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“I want you to be nice until it’s time not to be nice,” Patrick Swayze’s James Dalton says menacingly in the original. road house since 1989.
That line from the script co-written by David Lee Henry may have taken on new meaning for Amazon Studios, MGM Studios and United Artists today with a new lawsuit aimed at technically knocking out the remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor set to debut at SXSW next week. . A lawsuit accusing Amazon of serious digital sleight of hand during last year’s Hot Labor Summer.
“This case arises from Defendants’ flagrant copyright infringement because of their intentional failure to grant the required film license and ancillary rights to Hill’s screenplay underlying his 2004 spinoff remake as required by law,” it says. jury trial seeking the copyright lawsuit filed today in federal court. in California.
READ ROAD HOUSE’S COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT TO SHUT DOWN THE 2024 REMAKE HERE
In fact, R. Lance Hill, who goes by the professional name David Lee Henry, not only says he wants an injunction against the Doug Liman-directed film. He is saying much more.
Represented by studio attorney Marc Toberoff, Hill claims to have lifted the curtain on what could be the new reality for the entertainment industry. With director Liman already boycotting the SXSW premiere due to the decision to stream the film on March 21 instead of in theaters, the 2024 film now appears to have stepped on a very 21st-century landmine, according to Hill and his experienced legal team.
“Hill is further informed and believes and, based thereon, alleges that Defendants went so far as to take extreme measures to attempt to meet this November 10, 2023 deadline, at considerable additional cost, including through the use of AI ( Artificial Intelligence) during the 2023 Screen Actor’s Guild (“SAG”) strike to replicate the voices of the actors from the 2024 Remake for ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) purposes, all in conscious violation of the collective bargaining agreements of both the SAG as well as the Director’s Guild of America. (DGA) of which the defendants were signatories,” the 19-page complaint states explosively. “These are not actions by companies that truly believe Hill’s firing is ineffective.”
“The lawsuit filed by R. Lance Hill regarding road house today is completely unfounded and numerous allegations are categorically false,” an Amazon spokesperson told Deadline this afternoon. “The film does not use any AI instead of the actors’ voices. “We look forward to defending ourselves against these accusations.”
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In addition to the court order and AI accusations, Canadian scribe Hill wants a six-pack of damages and a full accounting. In their potential legal blow, Hill and Toberoff also want a court order stating that their legal dismissal as of Nov. 11, 2023 is valid and that Amazon Studios and its MGM division had “no rights to make, produce or distribute the remake.” 2024 or any other.” post-termination derivative work based in whole or in part on the Screenplay and/or the 1989 Film (as derived from the Screenplay).”
Amazon insists that Hill’s firing is invalid, according to today’s document, and well-placed company sources confirmed it.
On the other hand, the goal was to complete the film by Nov. 10 of last year to get it under the completion wire, Hill and attorney Toberoff say in the lawsuit. “Ultimately, defendants failed to complete the new 2024 version until late January 2024, long after Hill’s termination took effect,” the lawsuit adds.
AG-AFTRA did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on Hill’s AI claims and the collective bargaining agreement breach they imply, if true. When the guild led by Fran Drescher does so, we will update this post.
That said, even with Amazon denying that AI was used, some of Hollywood’s worst fears and scariest prophecies about the use and power of technology in the hands of studios will shake the walls of Tinseltown Jericho today just from the accusations, as the lawyer says. Toberoff knows this very well. Or put another way, with memories of the hot work summer of 2023 still burning in many people’s minds and bank accounts and as IATSE, the Hollywood Teamsters and other professionals prepare to begin talks with studios next week about parts of a new contract, Amazon may find itself taking the beating of all beatings, and no amount of Jeff Healey’s version of “RoadHouse Blues” will make that feel better.