Gary Oldman sued for 'Darkest Hour' by a writer who alleges film lifted from his script

Darkest Hour is a historical war drama film released in 2017. It stars Gary Oldman in his Academy Award-winning role as Winston Churchill. Now the actor, along with the production studios, has been sued by a screenwriter who claims that the film lifted certain historical events from his unproduced Winston Churchill script.

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Gary Oldman sued by a writer who claims 'Darkest Hour' stolen from his script

According to a recent report from Variety, a teacher and a writer Ben Kaplan, who has worked on several History Channel series, has filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. He has accused that Gary Oldman was originally signed on to his Winston Churchill script. But he left the project and joined Darkest Hour later.

The lawsuit claims that Darkest Hour stole historical elements and invented scenes from Ben Kaplan’ script. For instance, both the script has a scene of Winston Churchill trying to lure out a cat from under a bed. Another significant allegation that the suit makes is that both scripts falsely claim that Churchill came up with the idea for the British civilian fleet which helped evacuate soldiers at Dunkirk. It also alleges that both the scripts share similar story arc, each ending with Churchill’s “We shall fight on the beaches” speech.  

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The suit states, “Attributing to Churchill the idea for the civilian armada and the order that it be mustered was an ahistorical, fictional invention of Mr. Kaplan that is scripted in ‘Churchill’ and duplicated in ‘Darkest Hour,” adding that the Small Vessels Pool came into action in 1939 before Winston Churchill became prime minister. “It was Britain’s civilian fleet, not Churchill’s until Mr. Kaplan portrayed him as its progenitor,” asserted the filing reported as per Variety.

The suit names Gary Oldman, his agent and his managers as defendants. It also includes production companies like NBCUniversal, Working Title and Focus Features. The lawsuit charges “false designation of origin” under federal trademark law, along with claims of breach of implied contract, interference with contract and unfair business practices. The suit alleges that Oldman and his team had access to three versions of Ben Kaplan’s script.

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According to the lawsuit, Ben Kaplan commenced writing the script in 1999 and registered it in 2002 with the Writers Guild of America. In 2011, he collaborated with a producer, who then teamed up with Sierre / Affinity and StudioCanal. The producer also worked to bring on Gary Oldman, and they allegedly agreed to a deal which would pay the actor a $6 million fee. But he dropped from the project in March 2015.