Clive Cussler Trial About to Get Nasty

Posted on February 11, 2007

The Clive Cussler/Philip Anschutz trial over the movie Sahara -- which starred Matthew McCouneghey and Penelope Cruz in the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Cussler -- is about to get very ugly indeed. Billionaire Anschutz is suing Cussler because the movie flopped and he says its Cussler's fault because Cussler and his publisher inflated his book sales. He also claims that Cussler kept trying to rewrite the script and is a racist and anti-Semite. Cussler sued Anschutz right back for breah of contract saying that Anschutz failed to give Cussler creative control over the script, which is why the movie tanked. Now Anschutz is trying to paint Cussler as some kind of deranged, alcoholic nutcase.

Anschutz's attorneys conceded that they would fully explore Cussler's conduct - particularly accusations that he made racist and anti-Semitic slurs - to demonstrate that the 75-year-old author acted unreasonably during development of the movie "Sahara." But they said they had no plans to exploit additional evidence that could prove damaging to Cussler's reputation.
The attorneys said they never intended, for example, to disclose to the jury that Cussler believed the moon landing was a government hoax or that he was intolerant of his fans, calling one loyal reader "a loathsome toad."
"The idea that we are trying to get away with something is nonsense," said Alan Rader, Anschutz's attorney from O'Melveny & Myers. "Cussler breached a contract by acting in bad faith. That is our focus."
Cussler initially sued Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment for allegedly reneging on a written agreement that gave him extraordinary approval rights over the adaptation of "Sahara," one in a series of his bestselling Dirk Pitt adventure novels. Anschutz countersued, claiming that Cussler deliberately undermined the adventure film, which has lost about $105 million.

Anschutz badgered Cussler until he sold him the film rights, then he signed a contract giving Cussler control over the film. Cussler got mad when Anschutz didn't listen to Cussler's ideas about the film. Now Anschutz is whining because the film didn't make money. But anyone who saw Sahara knows why that film bombed: the script was terrible, just like Cussler kept telling the producers. We do like Matthew McConaughey as an actor, but he didn't have much to work with: the dialogue was ridiculous.

So Cussler tore up a script and threw it over his shoulder saying it was awful. We would have done the same thing. We don't think that's unreasonable at all.