Mel Gibson filed a lawsuit yesterday morning in Los Angeles Superior Court against Voltage Pictures, one of the production companies involved in Professor & The Madman, an Irish production of Simon Winchester's novel, The Surgeon Of Crawthorne.
The film, which was filmed in Ireland around September of last year, sees Gibson play Professor James Murray, a lexicographer who compiles the first Oxford English Dictionary with the help of Dr. W.C. Minor, an American Army surgeon who contributed a huge number of quotations to the book - all while he was held in a mental asylum for murder.
Gibson's lawsuit alleges that Voltage Pictures failed to secure a final budget, never secured a completion bond, refused to allow director Farhad Safinia to film in Oxford College, and have yet to reimburse Gibson's production company for expenses or paid its producer's fee. To top it all off, Gibson's lawsuit also claims that Voltage didn't complete principal photography in accordance with the agreed upon screenplay.
The suit also claims that Voltage Pictures are screening the film in Los Angeles in direct violation of Gibson's right to select the final cut of the film.
There's no word yet on how the lawsuit will affect the film's release, as no date had been slated for its release. Calls to Fastnet Films and Icon Productions were not returned as of writing.
Via Variety
