Looks like the king of gangster movies might find himself in a courtroom drama. Guy Ritchie is reportedly being sued by a former collaborator for breach of contract over his 2020 film The Gentlemen, according to Variety. Writer and actor Mickey De Hara filed the lawsuit last month in London High Court. De Hara claims that he was hired by Ritchie to write a screenplay for the sequel to 2008’s RocknRolla. The pair had previously worked together on 2000’s Snatch, and De Hara received an associate-producer credit on RocknRolla. The sequel screenplay, which De Hara delivered to Ritchie in 2018, was based on De Hara’s “personal life experiences†and centered on a main character who runs a marijuana business. Ritchie ultimately passed on the script, telling De Hara that “the time of the gangster movie was over.â€
However, Ritchie went on to write and direct The Gentlemen, which was released in 2020 and featured a main character named Mickey (played by Matthew McConaughey) who runs a marijuana business. In his lawsuit, De Hara claims that The Gentlemen features copies of both his characters and “unique aspects of the plot.†He specifically points to one scene involving Colin Farrell as a direct copy of a scene from his screenplay. Per the lawsuit, De Hara texted Ritchie attempting to get credit on the film before its digital release, to which Ritchie replied, “I’ll try, but what I can do is get you a credit on something in the future.†Ritchie claims in the texts that he and his team attempted to contact De Hara prior to the film’s release, which De Hara denies. De Hara is seeking $250,000 in damages, including a share of the film’s profits, as well as “credit for his original work that has been used in The Gentlemen without his consent.†Ritchie has not yet commented on the situation.