Gibney v. ThinkFilm: Lawsuit to the Dark Side

Leonard Pierce — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:45:00 GMT

With his new film, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson opening soon and filming already started on his adaptation of the best-selling Freakonomics, Alex Gibney -- whose previous work has included Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room -- is developing a reputation as one of the canniest documentary filmmakers in the business. He should have his eyes pointed straight at the future, but instead, he's bogged down with a movie that was released last year: Taxi to the Dark Side.

According to IndieWire, Gibney has filed a lawsuit against ThinkFilm, the distributors of Taxi to the Dark Side, through the Independent Film & Television Alliance. The amount? A cool million. The issue? Gibney insists that ThinkFilm misled him about their preparedness to release the film, misled him about their financial clout, and failed to give Taxi to the Dark Side the theatrical release it needed to turn a profit. Gibney's also asking for legal costs and a return of distribution rights to the film.

For their part, ThinkFilm -- who are currently cash-poor and facing a major crisis as creditors breathe down their necks -- claim bad faith on the part of Gibney. While not denying the charges outright, they do say that Gibney was paid in full, if not on time, and attempt to turn his reputation as a champion of the little guy against him: "How ironic that a man who professes to care so much about the people who worked hard on his film would then inflict such insult and injury upon the blameless and tireless THINKFilm staff," says the company's Mark Urman. Whatever happens with the lawsuit, ThinkFilm is burning a lot of bridges that won't be easy to rebuild.

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Gibney v. ThinkFilm: Lawsuit to the Dark Side