Fox sued over ‘Gentlemen’

Producer Martin Poll (“The Lion in Winter”) and screenwriter Larry Cohen (“Best Seller”) have filed suit against 20th Century Fox, claiming that the film “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” was based on their ideas and their script entitled “Cast of Characters.”

According to the suit, Poll had talks with high-level Fox executives about their project starting in 1993. The producers are seeking $100 million in damages.

“The League of Extraordinary Gentleman,” which has taken in $65 million in the U.S. and Canada, portrays personalities as varied as Tom Sawyer and Alan Quatermain banding together to fight evildoers. “Cast of Characters” deals with a band of 19th century literary figures trying to foil a fiendish plot masterminded by Moriarity, the archnemesis of Sherlock Holmes.

“We have not yet seen the complaint,” said Fox spokeswoman Flo Grace. “However, this is absurd nonsense. Our movie is based directly on the graphic novel by Alan Moore.”

-- Elaine Dutka