Guy Ritchie Facing $250,000 Lawsuit For Plagiarizing Scenes In ‘The Gentleman’

Guy Ritchie may have to pay up if he’s on the losing side of a lawsuit recently filed against him by writer Mickey De Hara, who claims the director stole elements from his script that was previously rejected for 2019’s The Gentleman.

The lawsuit was filed in the London High Court last month, Variety reports, and alleges that Ritchie is guilty of breach of contract.

De Hara claims that Ritchie reached out to him to help create the script for a sequel to the 2008 gangster film RockNRolla. The director reportedly wanted De Hara to draw from his personal experiences, as he was once convicted for drug possession with an intention to supply.

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However, after De Hara presented a script to Ritchie in 2018 that featured a main character who operates a cannabis business, the director implied that he was no longer interested in pursuing the project.

Ritchie went on to release The Gentleman in 2019, which stars Mathew McConaughey as the leader of a marijuana empire. Now, De Hara claims in his lawsuit that The Gentleman is a “substantial” replica of his script.

De Hara says that his script is so similar to The Gentleman’s that it features identical scenes and characters with the same names.

The script writer said he reached out to Ritchie after the film’s release, who told him that it was too late to give him a writer’s credit.

“I’ll try, but what I can do is get you a credit on something in the future,” De Hara alleges Ritchie told him via text.

However, De Hara says that he doesn’t want a credit in The Gentleman; he wants his original script that was used to inspire the film to be acknowledged. De Hara is seeking $250,000 in damages as well as a share of the film’s profits.

De Hara and Ritchie have a long-standing professional relationship. Before they collaborated on 2008’s RockNRolla, they worked together on 2000’s Snatch.

So far, Ritchie has not publicly responded to the lawsuit. The director – who has a personal estimate net worth of $150 million – had a $22 million budget for The Gentleman, and the movie only raked in $11.5 million profits worldwide at the box office.

Despite the famous cast – which includes Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant – the film received mixed responses. It has a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sources: Variety, Vulture,

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