Robert De Niro's lawyer has denied allegations made by Italian filmmaker Stefania Grassi, who claims the actor plagiarized her work for his short film "Ellis."
The film, which was recently screened at the New Yorker Film Festival, was penned by Eric Roth of "Forrest Gump" fame and directed by French artist JR. Grassi claimed on social media that the script of the 14-minute film was copied from her short film, "L'uomo in Frac," according to Page Six.
De Niro's representing attorney, Tom Harvey, issued a statement in response, labelling the plagiarism allegations as "preposterous" and "libelous."
"The idea that two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro provided Oscar winner Eric Roth with a script from an unknown Italian writer so that Mr. Roth could use it to write the 14-minute short film, 'Ellis,' about Ellis Island and early immigrants' experience is not only preposterous, it is libelous," the statement read, according to Variety.
"Mr. De Niro's office does not accept scripts and even if someone hands him a script directly or through a friend, the material is thereafter sent on to his agent," the statement continued. "Mr. De Niro never read any script from this unknown writer and never passed any such script to Mr. Roth."
"As far as 'Ellis' is concerned, the French artist JR approached Mr. De Niro's partner, Jane Rosenthal, about the project, who arranged for JR and Mr. Roth to collaborate on the film and along the way Mr. De Niro volunteered his time because he believed strongly in the project and the work of JR," Harvey added.
Grassi then retorted with a post on Facebook, saying that she had "extensive" evidence to prove that her work was indeed plagiarized.
"In addition, there is extensive correspondence between Mrs. Grassi and Mr Josh Lieberman (agent of Mr De Niro) and his the lawyer Mr. Peter Grant (Legal thereof) that received more than a year ago both the subject and the screenplay of 'The Man in tails' ('L'Uomo in Frac') indicating first - through Mr. Danilo Mattei, the Italian actor and friend of Mr De Niro - a great interest in the script, and then declining any involvement in the project to Mrs. Grassi," said the Italian filmmaker.
