Author Cussler sues over film treatment of book
Fri Feb 2, 6:50 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Action-novel hero Dirk Pitt has overcome myriad obstacles on his way to finding buried treasures and shipwrecks but his career and that of his creator -- novelist Clive Cussler -- was nearly destroyed by a bad script, a court was told on Friday.
Best-selling writer Cussler, who has featured Pitt in 19 of his 32 books, is suing Crusader Entertainment, owned by Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, for making so many script and plot changes to the film version of his book "Sahara" that it was doomed to box-office failure.
Cussler's lawyer Bert Fields told a Los Angeles Superior Court jury that because of the poor adaptation of the work, it was now impossible for author Cussler to get future film deals.
"This was not the dramatic, gripping story Clive Cussler told. As a result, the audience just didn't care," Fields said in his opening statement. He added that the movie "Sahara" released in 2005 with
Matthew McConaughey and
Penelope Cruz lost between $60 million and $70 million.
Lawyers for Crusader Entertainment were to give their opening statement later on Friday.
Cussler said in his lawsuit that Crusader altered his screenplay without his consent and changed the character of Dirk Pitt from a hero into a treasure-hunting rogue.
In a countersuit, Crusader said Cussler had overstated by tens of millions the number of books he had sold to induce them to enter the agreement.
Cussler is seeking millions of dollars in damages.
How this shakes out, of course, depends on the particular working of the contract between the parties but if it's a standard contract, I don't think the author has a legal leg to stand on. It's not as if he's the first novelist to be shocked by the film adaptation.
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