Martin Scorsese has settled a lawsuit against him accusing him of doing nothing to help develop a World War II film after being paid $500,000.
Simon Afram, who wrote the script titled Operation: Fortitude, claimed the legendary filmmaker, 81, ‘didn’t lift a finger’ to help him or his team get their project off the ground, despite accepting the initial six-figure payment for serving as an executive producer.
Despite their ambitious plans to begin production in 2022, just months after hiring Scorsese, the aspiring filmmakers claimed in their lawsuit that they couldn’t even ‘talk directly’ to him as his managers repeatedly insisted that he was ‘too busy’.
“Defendant never made Mr. Scorsese available for a single phone call, meeting or other interaction,” the lawsuit alleged.
Martin Scorsese has settled a lawsuit against him accusing him of doing nothing to help develop a World War II film after being paid $500,000 (seen earlier this month)
After sensing that Scorsese was no longer interested in the project, Variety reveals that the scriptwriter and crew ‘asked for their money back and didn’t get it.’
In a cross-complaint, however, Scorsese’s lawyers stated that he ‘personally identified several capable directors who might be good for the project and reached out to them through his representatives’, but ‘no one was interested’.
“The expectation among those new to the film industry is that a good idea or script will instantly be transformed into an Oscar-winning work of art, when the reality is that trying to develop a film yourself can take years,” Scorsese’s lawyers wrote. .
Scorsese’s cross-complaint pointed out that his 2019 film The Irishman, which received 10 Oscar nominations, took 12 years to develop and produce.
The Hollywood icon, who is considered to be one of the most influential and greatest filmmakers of all time, pointed out that Afram lacks experience in the industry.
According to Variety, Scorsese’s lawyers argued that he simply wasn’t familiar with what it takes to get a movie off the ground.
“This case presents the classic example of a novice filmmaker refusing to appreciate the stark difference between expectation and reality in the film industry, to the detriment of all involved,” the director’s lawyers wrote.
At present, Afram has only ‘two unproduced scripts to his name’ and has ‘spent tirelessly trying to develop Operation: Fortitude.
Simon Afram, who wrote the script titled Operation: Fortitude, claimed the legendary filmmaker, 81, ‘didn’t lift a finger to’ help him or his team get their project off the ground, despite accepting it first six-figure payment for serving as an executive producer
Despite their ambitious plans to begin production in 2022, just months after hiring Scorsese, the aspiring filmmakers claimed in their lawsuit that they couldn’t even ‘talk directly’ to him as his managers repeatedly insisted that he was ‘too busy’
Scorsese’s team also claimed that ‘it was actually the plaintiffs who owed’ their client ‘$500,000 – the second installment guaranteed by the contract.’
In Afram’s lawsuit, filed in May 2023, he claimed that hiring ‘Scorsese had cost’ him and his team ‘$500,000 and 15 wasted months’.
‘Op-Fortitude’ still has not completed the assembly of its cast and crew and has not been able to begin the production process in earnest,’ the lawsuit read. ‘Op-Fortitude’ has instead been forced to essentially start from scratch.’
On Thursday, after a year of wrangling, the plaintiffs ‘filed a notice’ indicating their case had finally been settled.
Details of their settlement were not released.