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This article is more than 23 years oldWhich film is most likely to be delayed by legal problems (unreleased by December 2002)?Film Unlimited
Takedown 3-1
Beyond The Mat 5-1
Cash 6-1
Smoke And Mirrors 7-1
The Informer may be on its way to Oscar success, but it has had its fair share of negative publicity. Lucretia Nimocks, the former wife of Jeffrey Wigand, the tobacco-industry whistleblower who is the subject of the film, has announced that she is going to sue the Walt Disney Studio for using her life story without permission and portraying her "disparagingly".
Smoke And Mirrors is set to star parents-to-be Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and tells the true story of nineteenth-century illusionist Jean Robert Houdin and his sidekick Colette, who were sent to Algeria by the French government to expose a religious sorcerer inciting revolution. "I don't think there will be too many family members around to take this particular film to court", says Ed Nicholson, Ladbrokes' entertainment odds compiler, alluding to a US law whereby film companies cannot use a person's life story without the subject's permission.
The documentary on wrestling, Beyond The Mat, has already had it's ad campaign mysteriously pulled from one wrestling show. The distributor, Lion's Gate, is apparently pondering legal action against the World Wrestling Federation for it's negative influence on the project.
"Cash is all about Johnny Cash, the grand old man of Nashville. So much has gone on in his life, drugs and alcohol abuse, religious conversion, and a recent illness, that it was always odds-on that a movie would be made. Producers will have to ensure they receive the green light from Cash's friends and family but it's unlikely to be a negative film", says Ed.
Takedown is about the hacker Kevin Mitnick, who was tracked down by high-tech genius Tsutomu Shimomura. "It's the most likely film to run into trouble, as attorneys are allegedly being consulted over defamation of character", says Ed. The film has been held up from release since January by a lawsuit from Mitnick.
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