10 Movie Scenes That Led To Massive Lawsuits - Commenter Edition
Leonardo DiCaprio's pre-Titanic days were... a tiny bit controversial.
Looking to produce a film? You're going to have to pony up quite a bit of cash. Even the "cheapest" of independent efforts can require tens of thousands of dollars to create, but that might not even be the end of your financial woes, because an unfortunate side effect of movies being such money-vacuums is that they're easy targets for major lawsuits.
Whether it's a real-life figure who's upset by the way they've been portrayed on film, or even those poor souls who are injured or killed while on set, movies and legal drama are common bedfellows, with the people who feel wronged by a particular aspect of the production often seeking financial compensation for their troubles.
Not every case leads to a prolonged and expensive court battle, mind you, but where there's the potential for financial gain, you can be damn sure that the offended party will sue the living daylights out of the studios and filmmakers responsible.
We've already done a list on this very subject, but afterwards, we received a bunch of comments telling us some more examples of movie-related lawsuits, and so, we decided to gather the best ones up right here!
10. Hedy Lamarr Doesn't Get The Joke - Blazing Saddles
Played by the late Harvey Korman, 1974's Blazing Saddles features a character called Hedley Lamarr, a corrupt attorney whose only goal is to make himself a quick buck - even if that means driving the residents of Rock Ridge from their rightful homes.
Like most things in director Mel Brooks' classic satire of the western movie genre, Lamarr is meant to be laughed at, not taken super-seriously. But not everyone found the character to be all that funny.
In fact, Hollywood film star Hedy Lamarr was so offended by the film's parody of her name that she decided to sue Brooks and Warner Bros. for an eye-watering $10 million (remember, this was back in the '70s, when that figure was worth much more than it is today), stating that this mockery of her moniker was done without her permission.
Unsurprisingly, Lamarr didn't get very far with her case, and it was settled out of court for a small figure, along with an apology for "almost" using the actress' name.
Hilariously, there's even a lawsuit reference during a scene in the film: Brooks' character mistakenly refers to Hedley as "Hedy", before saying "the hell are you worried about, this is 1874 - you'll be able to sue her".