Actor Tommy Lee Jones is suing Paramount Studios over the gross receipts income for the 2007 Oscar winning film, "No Country for Old Men."
Tommy Lee Jones listens to a journalist's question during a press conference in Monterrey, New Leon State, Mexico 19 August 2008. EPA/FRANCISCO TIJERNA
The film took the 2008 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best achievement in directing for Ethan and Joel Coen; Best performance by an actor in a supporting role went to Javier Bardem and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published also went to the Coen brothers.
Jones, 61, who played Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, claims that more than $10 million of unpaid bonuses from starring in the west Texas drama are due to him.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday against Paramount Pictures, Jones lays out his grievances, that he was promised "significant box-office bonuses" and other compensation depending on the success of the film.
The suit says Jones was paid a reduced fee upfront and that there were known errors in his contract that weren't corrected before the movie was made.
Jones wants an outside forensic auditor to review the financial records.
This is not the first time Paramount Pictures has been sued over "Hollywood accounting."
The late Art Buchwald fought a long battle over compensation dispute from the film "Coming to America," where he and a co-plaintiff finally settled years later with Paramount for more than $1 million.
Buchwald began his battle in 1988, when he sued Paramount for breach of contract. The film was based on a two-page treatment that Buchwald had sold to Paramount in 1983.
Buchwald and his producer-partner claimed their original contract with Paramount also entitled them to a share of the film's net profit.
Paramount first denied the film was based on Buchwald's treatment. Then they argued that even if it were, Buchwald and his partner were not entitled to any payments because the film never made a net profit, even though Paramount's share of the film's worldwide gross receipts was more than $140 million.
Judge Harvey Schneider of LA Superior Court ruled that the film had indeed been based on Buchwald's treatment. Variety had reported that in late 1990, the judge also ruled that many of the net-profit terms in the studio's contract with Buchwald and his partner were "unconscionable." The trial ended in March 1992.
Variety reported that by settling that case, Paramount, (now part of Viacom Inc.), avoided having the Buchwald case cited as a legal precedent in other net-profit compensation lawsuits.
Art Buchwald died at age 81 in January 2007.
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