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Screenwriter sues over credits for James Caan’s last film
Entertainment Jul 20, 2022
Noah Emerich, James Caan and Guillaume Canet at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. | Photo courtesy of Georges Biard/Wikimedia Commons
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A screenwriter is suing two production companies in a dispute over film credits for the upcoming James Caan-Pierce Brosnan crime drama “Fast Charlie.”
Plaintiff Lee Goldberg and his company, Adventures in Television, brought the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit on Friday against Boomtown Media Partners LLC and Fast Charlie Nola LLC, alleging breach of contract and seeking declaratory relief.
Representatives for the defendants could not be immediately reached.
Goldberg, who has written for such television shows as “Psych,” “Monk,” “Diagnosis Murder,” “Baywatch and “Spenser: For Hire,” entered a written contract in March 2021 through his company with Boomtown Media to obtain the option to acquire the motion picture, television and ancillary rights to “Gun Monkeys,” a screenplay authored by Goldberg based on the Victor Gischler novel of the same title, the suit states.
The contract states that all monies due Goldberg’s company were to be paid to Goldberg if a film was made based on “Gun Monkeys” along with credits in the main titles, home video packaging and other areas, according to the suit
Goldberg believes Boomtown assigned its rights to FCN, which in April 2022 began shooting “Fast Charlie,” a movie based on “Gun Monkeys,” but the plaintiff was not paid the agreed-upon purchase price or provided through his company the first opportunity to make any required revisions to the “Gun Monkeys” screenplay, the suit states.
“Fast Charlie” finished production in New Orleans but has not yet been released. Goldberg and his company want a preliminary injunction stopping the defendants from making “Fast Charlie” available to the public until a determination is made regarding the plaintiffs’ rights to writing and co-producer credits, according to the suit, which also seeks compensatory damages.
“Fast Charlie” focuses on Brosnan’s character, Charlie Swift, who toiled for mob figure Caan for two decades and seeks to avenge Caan’s death, which is brought about by a rival boss.
Caan died July 6 at age 82 and was known for playing in films as varied as “The Godfather” and “Thief” as well as “Brian’s Song.”
