Adrien Brody doesn’t want anybody to see his work in the Italian horror flick, “Giallo,” which is scheduled to be released tomorrow on DVD.
Brody is attempting to stop the film’s release, not because the film bombed among critics and 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 Academy Award winning actor signed a “pay or play” deal to star in “Giallo,” directed by Italian horror king Dario Argento. About a week into production, Brody 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 told that the film had new guaranteed funding lined up from a $2 million sale of the 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.
Brody says in a lawsuit filed on on Thursday in California District Court that he was never paid and that the story of new funding was “phony.” When Brody attempted to exercise his rights to hold back the picture, producers allegedly ignored him and said that they would never pay him.
The actor wants a permanent injunction enjoining distribution of the film as well as the $640,000 he’s owed, plus $2 million more for breach of contract, breach of fair dealing, fraud, and misappropriation of his publicity rights.
