Film company sues Blake Edwards

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 21

Film company sues Blake Edwards

NZPA Los Angeles The M.G.M.-U.A. Entertainment Company has filed a SUS34O million (SNZSI7M) suit in the Los Angeles Superior Court against Blake Edwards, the film producer-director.

The suit claims fraudulent overspending on three films that Edwards made for M.G.M.-U.A. and its predecessor. United Artists. The suit is a cross-com-plaint to a $lBO million suit filed last September by Edwards which charged that the company had sabotaged the release of Edwards' film “Curse of the Pink Panther."

In regard to three films cited in the M.G.M.-U.A. suit. “Victor-Victoria," “Trail of the Pink Panther" and “Curse of the Pink Panther," the company charges that Edwards and his line producer, Tony Adams, “caused lavish, extravagant, and unnecessary sums of money to be spent on production; and overspent and squandered large sums on (among other things) unnecessary or excessively expensive items, extravagant or non-existent living expenses, and automobile and chauffeur expenses.”

The suit claims that Edwards and Adams never intended to live up to the promises they made to shoot each of the films “in accordance with a script and shooting schedule approved by M.G.M.-U.A. or United Artists” and “not to exceed the budget without written approval from M.G.M.-U.A. or United Artists.”

“Victor-Victoria,” which starred Edwards’s wife, Julie Andrews’ as a woman who masquerades as a female impersonator in order to get a job as a singer, got excellent re-

views and brought the studio a moderate $lO million in film rentals. The “Pink Panther" series, starring Peter Sellers as the bumbling detective, Inspector Clouseau. had been very successful at the box office. The 1975 "Return of the Pink Panther" and the 1978 "Revenge of the Pink Panther" had brought United Artists about $25 million apiece in film rentals.

“Trail of the Pink Panther," made after Sellers' death, which consisted mostly of leftover footage from earlier "Pink Panther" films was a boxoffice failure, as was "Curse of the Pink Panther," which did not have Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. The problems between M.G.M.-U.A. and Edwards surfaced last July when Allan Buckhantz, a producer who was to receive 5 per cent of the profits from “Victor-Victoria" complained of waste and extravagance in the making of the film.

In response, M.G.M.-U.A. began an audit. In September, 1983, Edwards sued the studio contending that it had punished him for giving favourable testimony for David Begelman, the chairman of United Artists, who had been dismissed by M.G.M.U.A., in an arbitration hearing.

Edwards’ suit charges that the company then booked “Curse of the Pink Panther” into inappropriate theatres and refused to support the film with adequate advertising. M.G.M.-U.A. is asking for $lOO million in punitive damages, $240 million in compensatory damages, and a complete accounting on all three films.