The 'Django Unchained' director says 'Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism' by providing download link to the screenplay.
- Jan 28, 2014
AceShowbiz - Quentin Tarantino is taking legal measures after the script for his new film "The Hateful Eight" surfaced online. The Oscar-winning director files a lawsuit against Gawker for making the screenplay available for download.
"Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people's right to make a buck," Tarantino says in his legal papers. "This time they've gone too far."
He goes on, "Rather than merely publishing a news story reporting that Plaintiff's screenplay may have been circulating in Hollywood without his permission, Gawker Media crossed the journalistic line by promoting itself to the public as the first source to read the entire screenplay illegally."
The website in a post titled "Here Is the Leaked Quentin Tarantino Hateful Eight Script" provided "multiple direct links for downloading the entire screenplay through a conveniently anonymous URL," the suit continues.
"There was nothing newsworthy or journalistic about Gawker Media facilitating and encouraging the public's violation of Plaintiff's copyright in the screenplay, and its conduct will not shield Gawker Media from liability for their unlawful activity," it adds.
The helmer is suing the website for copyright infringement and contributory copyright infringement. He is seeking more than $1 million for unspecified damages and an injunction to stop the site from continuing to link to the script.
Tarantino expressed his frustration after finding out the script leak earlier this month. He suspected it was an inner circle betrayal since he only gave the script to six people including "Django Unchained" producer Reggie Hudlin, "Reservoir Dogs" stars Michael Madsen and Tim Roth, and "Nebraska" actor Bruce Dern.
The filmmaker believed one of them must have let their agent see it and the agent subsequently passed it along. The western movie was supposed to be his next project after "Django", but he has now shelved it and planned to publish it in a book version.
"I'm very, very depressed," he told Deadline. "I finished a script, a first draft, and I didn't mean to shoot it until next winter, a year from now. I gave it to six people, and apparently it's gotten out today."
"I don't know how these f**king agents work, but I'm not making this next. I'm going to publish it, and that's it for now. I give it out to six people, and if I can't trust them to that degree, then I have no desire to make it. I'll publish it. I'm done. I'll move on to the next thing. I've got 10 more where that came from."
