Laura Radford
The screenwriter of the cult classic film Road House is suing MGM, Amazon and United Artists for copyright infringement over its remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal, according to a filing obtained by The Daily Beast.
R. Lance Hill (also known as David Lee Henry) is an accomplished novelist who also wrote the 1989 film, which starred Patrick Swayze. Road House follows brooding main character Dalton, who just so happens to have a karate black belt and a philosophy Ph.D., as he takes on the task of taming and cleaning up a roadside bar in rural Missouri. Hill wrote the screenplay in 1986, which United Artists produced in 1989.
According to Hill’s filing, in 2021, he sent notice to United Artists that the copyright grant was ending and the rights to his screenplay would revert back to him on November 11, 2023. Hill claims in the filing that instead of honoring the notice, MGM, Amazon and United “steamrolled ahead with the production of a remake of the 1989 film,” ignoring Hill’s claim of ownership. The new Roadhouse was reportedly completed in January this year, well after the November deadline.