Thaindian News

London, Mar 4 (ANI): Bob and Harvey Weinstein, whose company distributed ‘The King’s Speech’, have been sued for 50 million dollars over claims that they ’sabotaged’ the production of an animated film.

Tony Leech and Brian Inerfeld have alleged in their lawsuit that their movie ‘Escape From Planet Earth’ suffered due to ‘hubris, incompetence, profligate spending, and contempt for contractual obligations’.

Leech was the co-director and co-writer of Hoodwinked!, a 2005 animated film distributed by the Weinstein Company, reports the BBC.

He, Inerfeld and the latter’s company Protocol Pictures filed documents on Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court that describe the Weinsteins as ‘out-of-control movie executives’.

They also listed a series of events which they claim constituted interference, indecision and breaches of contract.

All resulted in years of delay for their film which was first scheduled for a 2009 release, they said.

The Weinstein brothers, they said, bombarded them with changes that amounted to the film being ‘entirely re-conceived’.

Leech and Inerfeld also alleged that the Weinstein Company paid them 500,000 dollars to delay their legal action until after this year’s Academy Awards.

Lawyers for Leech and Inerfeld claimed that the Weinsteins ‘did not want to take the chance that their reputations would be sullied by the truth at a time when the voting for the Oscars was underway’.

At Sunday’s ceremony, ‘The King’s Speech’ won four Oscars including best picture.

The lawyers for the Weinsteins hit back, saying Leech and Inerfeld were let go after refusing to make the film it wanted and dismissed the case as ‘frivolous’ and ’slanderous’. (ANI)