A soldier from the squad in which Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal was embedded announced today that he’s suing the filmmakers, because he says the main character is based on him.
Master Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver believes screenwriter Mark Boal based “virtually all of the situations” in the film on events involving him and claims he coined the phrase “the hurt locker,” according to a statement from lawyer. Boal was a journalist in Iraq embedded with a squad that dismantled bombs, and he wrote a story about them for Playboy magazine. He developed his story into a screenplay about the soldiers and focused on one in particular, Will James. From that screenplay came the movie. Sarver claims Boal was embedded with Sarver’s unit and that he is James. Sarver says James’ nickname in the movie, “Blaster One,” was Sarver’s “call signal” while in Iraq. [ABC]
The suit is interesting as it seems specifically timed to coincide with the Oscars. And also because you don’t need someone’s permission to write a movie about his life (at least, you can easily cloak it in a thin sheen of fiction, a la Citizen Kane, Last Days, etc.), and Hurt Locker never claimed to be anything other than fiction (footnote). Meanwhile, remember the producer who wrote that letter I said wasn’t a big deal? The Academy announced that he can’t come to the ceremony as punishment. And I’m not the only one who smells an ulterior motive in everyone making a big deal out of this:
So let me get this straight; Nicolas Chartier who financed The Hurt Locker and is one of the 4 officially credited producers can’t attend the Academy Awards because he sent a mass email that never even mentioned Avatar by name? And the Oscars governing body thinks his badmouthing is so much worse than what nearly everyone in the Best Picture category has done year after year?So I must ask: is it mere coincidence that Academy president Tom Sherak (at one time a bigtime Fox movie exec), Oscars producers Bill Mechanic (at one time a bigtime Fox movie exec) and Adam Shankman (currently a bigtime Fox Broadcast talent), and Academy Board Of Governors member Jim Gianopulos (currently a bigtime Fox movie exec) all have strong ties to the Avatar studio? The Academy should have leaned over backwards not to appear Fox-sympathetic because of this. [DeadlineHollywood]
My sources tell me the Academy would’ve leaned over backwards, but couldn’t, on account of their all being 85-year-old Jews. Anyway, I don’t want to act too indignant because I make wiener jokes in my underwear for a living, but suffice to say, I’ve got my torches and pitchforks at the ready in case Avatar wins Best Picture.
*lights cat on fire, throws it through window*
Attica! Attica!
Footnote: See The Starter Wife’s comment below vis a vis life rights, as he seems to have a much better grasp of the legalities of these things than I.
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/global/images/default-avatar.jpg){kind=avatar}
![[image]](http://cdn.fd.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2012/02/ragingbull-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.fd.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2012/02/The-Artist-Dog-uggie-chillin-150x150.jpg)
Wouldn’t be an issue if the movie bombed.
Why would you throw a burning cat through my window? I didn’t even order Chinese.
That’s bullshit, everyone knows that my college friends coined the phrase “hurt locker” to describe hangovers
*true story*
Look, Anthony Michael Hall’s character in Sixteen Candles was based off of my experiences but you don’t see me pitching a fit, do you? The experience has given me some awesome perks.
*holds up Fek’s undies*
I’ve got something I’d like to smear on all these Fox executives
Man, if Avatar wins best picture, I will continue to not give a shit about the Oscars.
JHC, thanks for clarifying, I assumed you were doing the underwear scene from Shallow Hal.
I’d like to perform a pap smear on the director of the film.
The last time Fox execs smeared something with this much authority, there were queers involved. Tom Cruise WAS NOT involved.
Lassie: *bark*
Jacktion!: What’s is it, girl? Is Timmy stuck in a well again?
Lassie: *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark*
Jacktion!: Oh, I’m sorry. You thought Avatar was overly simplistic, making up in preachiness what it lacked in complexity?
Lassie: *bark* *bark* *bark*
Jacktion!: Yes, I bet it was frustrating to be unable to chase those giant cats.
Avatar deserves an Oscar about as much as Starship Troopers
*checks DVD collection*
You’ve got to be shitting me, academy
So basically, FOX has found another way to suck ass?
Whoa careful with the anti semitic slander there sir. Are you insisting that jews are unable to bend over backwards because of their unathletic nature, or maybe its because they might drop their yamaka*
*not how you spell it
It’s spelled yarmulke, Mr. Culturally Sensitive.
Is it bad that I found the funniest part of Jack!s post the mental image of that conversation being carried about by two dogs with the facial expression of his icon*?
*fuck avatar. Freedom fries or GTFO
Nicholas Chartier and Sasha Baron Cohen are having their own alternate Oscar celebration, they’re going to Michael’s Pub and throwing bacon at Woody Allen.
Fuck how you spell it. See im actually Mr. Culturally Insensitive
an academy hasn’t been this jacked up since Police Academy..4?
Hey ABC, it’s “call sign,” not “call signal.”
/puts on camouflage cut-offs, yells at passersby
Actually, if he can prove the character was based on him the producers would have had to option (and then buy) Sarver’s life rights. Defamation of character has nothing to do with it.
There’s a very specific difference between a PUBLIC figure portrayed in the movies (ala William Randolph Hearts as thinly featured in “Citizen Kane”) and that of a PRIVATE individual who has no outlet by which to respond to allegations or comments made about them. However, in this case its a PRIVATE individual suing not because of defamation, but rather that their story, their personal character was portrayed and profited from without getting any permissions or options on their life rights. So if this soldier chose to write his own memoirs and try and option them to a studio for a movie, the studio could look and say, “Hey, this is the same as ‘The Hurt Locker’ we’re not interested.” In effect, his ability to have his story told has been stripped, which is what he’s suing for: fair compensation– if in fact his story is the same as that told in the movie.
I’m not trying to be a dick here, but if what Sarver is claiming is true then he has a case.
Hey wait, did you delete your comment?
I did, but pay it no mind, I still wanted to hear your legal explanation.
I’m hardly a lawyer, just someone who has unfortunately been on the boring paperwork side of the entertainment world for too long. (That and my better half worked in feature lit for more than a decade.)
*Inserts vague anti-semitic joke* Now I am off to enjoy some Aryan sex with my completely submissive wife, and watch Glen Beck jerk off on live T.V.
I have a buddy in the Marines who does bomb ordnance and he said most of his peers loath Mark Boal because of this very thing.
Yeah, this does sound like a poor understanding of the law. Unless he wrote a script himself and had it stolen, he’s not really entitled to anything.
For anyone interested in the nitty-gritty of the law in the case, I’ve blogged about it here: http://bit.ly/9FEEFm
In short, he might have a decent defamation / false light claim. The misappropriation claim is tricky, and the fraud / misrepresentation claims are likely a wash.