Law suit

Film "Uh oh. If a French screenwriter is telling the truth, Stephen Gaghan might be about to find himself in some very hot legal water. According to Stephanie Vergniault, whose case against Gaghan, Warner Brothers, and Section Eight (George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh's production company) will be heard in a Paris court on Monday, "At least 15 to 20 scenes of [Syriana] -- the characters and how they develop, creative elements, the entire structure -- [have] been lifted directly" from a screenplay she wrote and copyrighted in 2004." -- Cinematical.

Uh oh indeed. I hate to think about the implications this is going to have on my dissertation. I'm sure the details of the case will clear up who did what, why, when and to whom but it really does demonstrate the pitfalls in selecting new films and new ideas for academic research (background: I'm defining the genre of Hyperlink Cinema of which Syriana is an example).