Brad Pitt Almost Got Sued Over Slave Snub

Paramount felt it should have been offered the film
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 28, 2014 10:01 AM CST
Brad Pitt Almost Got Sued Over Slave Snub
Brad Pitt arrives at the red carpet at the gala for the new movie "12 Years a Slave" during the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Friday, Sept. 6, 2013.   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)

(More) Hollywood drama: Brad Pitt narrowly managed to avoid a lawsuit from Paramount, according to Page Six's sources. The studio felt it should have been offered 12 Years a Slave by Plan B, Pitt's production company, with whom it had a "first-look deal." Instead, Plan B partner Dede Gardner handed the movie to rival Regency Enterprises, which distributed it via Fox Searchlight. Paramount "felt [Gardner] purposefully didn’t give it to them, and then was bad-mouthing the studio all over town," a source says.

"Paramount’s lawyers wanted to sue," says another insider. "But [CEO] Brad Grey stopped it because of his friendship with Pitt, his respect for [Slave director Steve] McQueen and out of respect for their movie." Oh, and it probably helped that "Pitt reached out to personally apologize to [Grey]," the source says. Grey was one of the co-founders of Plan B (along with Jennifer Aniston), and Plan B worked with Paramount for eight years but signed a three-year deal with Regency late last year. "Some people there feel like they’ve been cheated out of an Oscar," says the first source. (More Brad Pitt stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X