The sons of a BASEBALL legend are being sued for millions of dollars after two producers tried to make a biopic about their father.
Roberto Clemente’s sons, Roberto Jr. and Luis, have been named in a $5 million lawsuit after two producers accused their family of twice selling the rights to the baseball legend’s life story.
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Producers Jonah Hirsch and Angel Munoz announced last year that they would be working on a biopic based on the family’s biography, Clemente: The True Legacy of an Immortal Hero.
The film was supposed to show the baseball player’s life story and his fight for equality and social justice in Latin America.
The two producers revealed Deadlinethat both sons would be executive producers of the film.
“At a time when most heroes are fictional characters, we couldn’t think of a better time to elevate and reintroduce Clemente’s heroic story to a new generation,” Hirsch and Munoz said in a joint statement to the channel.
However, things quickly turned sour after the pair discovered that Thomas Tull, former CEO of Legendary Pictures, was also developing a film about the baseball player, according to Variety.
The family would have opted for Clemente’s rights to life in 2015.
However, it was stated in the lawsuit that the family quickly ran into trouble with Legendary Pictures.
The family alleged that the company wanted to use a biography written by another author and was mistreated during the process.
It was also added that Legendary Pictures “made many promises but never followed through with development on a film,” according to the lawsuit.
The Clemente family alleged that Legendary Pictures was unable to make payment, resulting in the rights to life reverting to them.
However, this was found to be false according to the lawsuit.
Now Tull, who left Legendary Pictures in 2017, still plans to develop the project through his company, Teton Ridge.
The children tried to resolve the problem, but the agreement ended up failing.
Roberto Jr. and Luis, as well as the family’s agent, CMG Worldwide, agreed to reimburse the producers the full $60,000 option price, according to the lawsuit.
However, the producers believe they are owed at least $5 million in damages for trying to stage the film, as well as reputational damage and out-of-pocket expenses.
CMG released a statement to Variety following news of the lawsuit.
“CMG Worldwide denies all unsubstantiated allegations made by Inside the Park,” the company said.
“Our only regret is our involvement with ‘producers’ who probably file more lawsuits than successful films.
“We look forward to litigating these ridiculous allegations and reaffirming our unwavering commitment to preserving the legacy of one of the greatest Hispanic icons of all time.”
US Sun has reached out to CMG for comment.
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