
Hollywood star Gary Oldman took home the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the Joe Wright-directed ‘Darkest Hour’. But why are we discussing this now after almost two and half years since this happened?
Because, Gary, NBCUniversal and others connected to the movie have been sued by a History Channel writer who accuses the group of allegedly ripping off parts of his script and making it into the Oscar-nominated film, ‘Darkest Hour’.
According to the complaint: “[Ben Kaplan] spent years developing, writing and refining Churchill. Several versions of the script for Churchill were distributed to members of film industry in Los Angeles County, California. It was understood by members of the film industry that Mr. Kaplan had created a script for a film about Winston Churchill and was planning on turning that script into a feature film.”
He now demands a jury trial.
The complaint further states, “Defendants’ wrongful conduct includes using numerous specific elements and ideas ideas from Mr. Kaplan’s Churchill script for their own film, Darkest Hour.”
The complaint seeks an injunction on the film, which grossed $150 million in global box office, and a range of damages including all the money the defendants made from the film.
‘Darkest Hour’ got six Oscar nominations including Best Picture that year.