Mel Gibson sued by Passion of the Christ screenwriter
News
-Staff
By Staff
Washington
(ANI):
Actor-director
Mel
Gibson
has
fallen
into
legal
trouble
with
the
co-screenwriter
of
'The
Passion
of
the
Christ',
who
alleges
that
the
former
conspired
against
him
to
deprive
him
of
fair
compensation
and
keep
more
money
for
himself.
Benedict
Fitzgerald
has
accused
Gibson
of
fraud,
breach
of
contract
and
unfair
business
practices
while
filing
the
five-million-dollar
lawsuit
in
Los
Angeles
Superior
Court.
"Gibson
preyed
monetarily
on
Ben,
taking
advantage
of
his
unbridled
enthusiasm
for
the
project
and
with
full
cognizance
of
Ben's
fundamental
personal
and
spiritual
beliefs," People
magazine
quoted
the
21-page
legal
document
as
stating.
The
document
states
that
Fitzgerald
was
told
by
Gibson
that
he
would
be
working
on
a
small,
four
to
seven-million-dollar
project
that
would
yield
little
money
for
the
former,
and
none
for
the
latter.
However,
some
accounts
reveal
that
the
film
grossed
over
600
million
dollars
worldwide.
Fitzgerald's
complaint
is
that
he
was
paid
75,000
dollars,
and
that
he
had
to
borrow
200,000
dollars
from
Gibson
for
expenses.
An
attorney
for
Gibson's
production
company
Icon,
George
R.
Hedges,
has
termed
Fitzgerald's
charges
"utterly
baseless".
Though
he
did
not
say
anything
about
Fitzgerald's
total
compensation
on
the
film,
he
said
that
Fitzgerald
"was
handsomely
compensated
-
a
very
significant
amount
of
money
for
any
writer
on
any
project."