James Franco has found himself in more legal trouble, this time for allegedly not giving screenwriter credit for work on The Disaster Artist.
Deadline reports Ryan Moody, a former student of Franco’s at UCLA, is suing his production company RabbitBandini Productions as well as Seth Rogen’s company Point Grey Pictures for breach of contract. Moody claims that while he worked as an unofficial teaching assistant, Franco invited him to write an adapted screenplay of The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside the Room, a book that retells the story of notoriously awful film, The Room, as well as its enigmatic actor/director Tommy Wiseau. Moody said he was paid $5,000 after months of working on the script, only to be stripped of any writing credit on the screenplay as well as the promised associate producer’s credit when the film was released in 2017.
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The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday with the Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming the two film companies had “no intention of giving Moody an associate producer credit,” instead throwing out an offer to secure the rights to the screenplay for “far less than fair market value.”
The film’s script was credited to Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber and has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. The award show takes place this Sunday. According to Deadline, neither companies could be reached for comment.
According to Box Office Mojo, The Disaster Artist brought in $29 million at the box office against a budget of $10 million.
With the Oscar awards pending, the film has already received a long list of critical awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice Award for Franco’s performance as Wiseau.
In January, Franco was accused of sexual harassment by five separate women, four of whom were his students and one was actress Ally Sheedy. Franco addressed the allegations in an interview with Stephen Colbert.
“First of all, I have no idea what I did to Ally Sheedy,” Franco said. “I directed her in a play Off Broadway, I had nothing but a great time with her, total respect for her. I have no idea why she was upset.”
“I can’t live if there’s restitution to be made. If I’ve done something wrong, I will fix it. I have to,” Franco continued. “I don’t know what else to do. As far as the bigger issue of how we do it, I really don’t have the answers. I think the point of this whole thing is that we listen. I’m here to listen and learn and change my perspective where it’s off. I’m completely willing and want to.”
