3. Frank Sivero AKA Frankie Carbone From Goodfellas
In 2014, Frank Sivero, an Italian-American actor best known for appearing in films like Goodfellas and The Godfather Part II, filed a lawsuit against The Simpsons creators for allegedly basing the character of Louie (a gangster, and member of Fat Tony's crew) on Sivero's character Frankie Carbone from 1990's Goodfellas. The number he came up with that would help Simpsons creators and Fox ease his pain? $250 million. In his complaint, Sivero found that The Simpsons had by 2014 made around $12 billion in total, and that the actor, "suffered, and continues to suffer severe financial damages in the form of lost income". Part of Sivero's claim was that he lived next door to writers of The Simpsons back in 1989, when the show first began, and that series developer James L Brooks was "highly aware of who Sivero was the fact that he created the role of Frankie Carbone". Sivero claimed his likeness was "being infringed in violation of California's publicity rights law". Which is something he'd previously cited as his reason for suing a Southern Californian sandwich shop for using his likeness to sell a 'Frankie Carbone' sub.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1