U.S. top court snubs actress de Havilland's suit against FX Networks

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS JANUARY 7, 2019 / 10:16 AM / UPDATED 16 MINUTES AGO

U.S. top court snubs actress de Havilland's suit against FX Networks

Jan Wolfe
3 MIN READ

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider reviving a lawsuit by 102-year-old Oscar-winning actress Olivia de Havilland accusing a Twenty-First Century Fox Inc unit of falsely portraying her in a miniseries about a famous Hollywood feud.

The justices let stand a lower court ruling throwing out the lawsuit filed by de Havilland, a Hollywood star whose career began in the 1930s. She had claimed that “Feud: Bette and Joan,” a FX Networks miniseries about a famous feud between de Havilland’s fellow screen legends Bette Davis and Joan Crawford damaged her reputation by portraying her as a gossip and hypocrite.

“Feud,” which aired in 2017, explored the bad blood between Crawford and Davis in the later years of their lives. The miniseries was created by producer Ryan Murphy, known for the series “American Horror Story” and “Glee.”

In February 2018, Murphy agreed to create exclusive series and films for Netflix Inc as part of a five-year deal expected to be worth up to $300 million.

De Havilland was portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones in “Feud,” which starred Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis. De Havilland objected to scenes in which she was portrayed as using a vulgar term to refer to her sister, actress Joan Fontaine, and joking about Frank Sinatra’s drinking.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-dehavilland/u-s-top-court-snubs-actress-de-havillands-suit-against-fx-networks-idUSKCN1P11HD

[exboyfil]

1. I remember the controversy

Around the portrayal of Max Baer the boxer in Cinderella Man. It was over the top and hurtful to his son the actor. It is a shame that biopics do this.

[hotrod0808]

2. I agree

In the lives of some of these celebrities, there is often no need to create drama, because the stories as they are tend to fascinate. Some are too fascinating and border on the unbelievable. If memory serves, the biopic for Sergent York had to be toned down because the actual stories of him in battle seemed too spectacular for a Hollywood film. Hell, even seeing Bohemian Rhapsody with my wife was tough, because I am thinking "that didn't happen that way."

Oh, and as an aside, I almost walked out of Unstoppable because I lived the actual event that runaway train was based upon, and the film was utter dogshit.

[sandensea]

3. Whatever the merits of her case or lack thereof, my advice to her would've been:

Olivia, old gal, you should've started up a vulture fund.

Their judges are usually quite literally theirs, and they usually get certoriari - or get it denied to the people they're fleecing.

With most of the business press waving pom-poms for them, I might add.