I guess this is different the others: (some details)
From E.Online:
Seagal Marked for Suit
by Josh Grossberg
Jun 9, 2005, 6:30 PM PT
Steven Seagal is under siege.
This time, the fading action hero is facing attack from a Hollywood film company, which is suing Seagal for $14 million for allegedly slowing down production on two movies.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Kill Master Productions and sales agent Nu Image, claims the 54-year-old Seagal delayed shooting on the action flicks Today You Die and Mercenary by routinely showing up late for work and leaving early.
Per the complaint, the onetime box-office champ famed for kicking butt in such high-octane thrillers as 1992's Under Siege and 1996's Executive Decision arrived 45 minutes late for filming on Today You Die and checked out three and a half hours before he was supposed to.
Additionally, the suit says that Seagal made changes to the script, including dialogue, without permission. He purportedly turned up in South Africa for production on Mercenary in April and May only when producers threatened to sue him, and he allegedly invited an entourage onto the set that disrupted the film crew.
"Seagal and his entourage continually harassed, intimidated and threatened the production and members of the production team with requests and demands that were inappropriate, outrageous or not contractually required," according to court papers.
Such behavior, the plaintiffs say, will cost both companies millions of dollars in delays and reshoots.
But Seagal's camp says it's the producers who crossed the line.
"Those claims are not only with out merit they're ridiculous," Seagal's attorney, Marty Singer, tells E! Online. "The suit was filed only because he was going to pursue claims against them."
Singer says the lawsuit "was a preemptive strike [because] my client made claims against them during the shooting that they were not honoring his creative rights." Singer says such rights included rewriting the script.
Seagal himself is now out for justice.
The actor filed his own lawsuit Thursday against Kill Master and Nu Image, alleging fraud, breach of contract, and intentional interference with a contract.
"In an effort to harass, cheat and intimidate Seagal, Nu Image, which financed Mercenary, has refused to pay Steven Seagal $835,000 he is owed, despite the fact that he traveled to South Africa and rendered all acting services required under his contract," the complaint reads.
Singer says that Mercenary was supposed to have a budget of $14 million, but the companies withheld between $5 million and $7 million, hurting the production quality and potentially harming the film's theatrical release.
"My client was notified that South African criminal authorities were conducting an investigation into money allegedly listed that didn't go into this movie," Singer adds.
Singer also says that, after Mercenary wrapped, the producers expressed interest in working with Seagal again--even though they failed to pay him the aforementioned $835,000 in wages.
"[Nu Image's] suit was filed to try and make Steven spend money to collect money he was owed, and it's obvious the film was completed on time and under budget," the attorney says.
After filing its suit, Nu Image did offer to pony up about 80 percent of what it owed Seagal, approximately $650,000.
Singer also disputes the allegation of an entourage run amok, saying there was "no entourage per se," just the director, Don FauntLeRoy, whom Seagal relied on to inform him when to show up for work. According to the lawyer, the director is also considering legal action for violating his creative rights.
Charles M. Coate, the lawyer for Nu Image and Kill Master, was not immediately available for comment.
While Seagal isn't as popular as he used to be, he continues to work steadily, if under the radar. Since his touted 2002 comeback, Half-Past Dead, failed to live up to expectations at the box office, he has been consigned to several largely forgettable straight-to-video flicks.
That's a far cry from his heyday, when he made such hit films as Above the Law (1988), Hard to Kill (1990), Out for Justice (1991) and On Deadly Ground (1994).
----- suzi
