Director Quentin Tarantino has been hit with a copyright lawsuit over his 2012 hit film "Django Unchained." The filmmakers that are suing the director claim he ripped off ideas from a screenplay they wrote titled "Freedom," TheWrap reported.
In the lawsuit, Oscar Colvin Jr. and Torrrance J. Colvin claim to have written "Freedom," described in the lawsuit as a "uniquely original concept" that they said was infringed upon by Tarantino as well as The Weinstein Company and Columbia Pictures, both of which are also named defendants along with the director. The suit also notes that Torrance submitted the "Freedom" to the William Morris Agency, and that Tarantino was mentioned while discussing appropriate directors and producers for the screenplay.
The suit claims the Colvins "provided the heart, bones and muscles to develop the unique idea that eventually would be transformed into 'Django Unchained,'" according to Yahoo! News. While the suit did not specify the damages that they seek, it did ask for compensatory damages "in an amount in excess of hundreds of millions of dollars to be proven at trial."
"Django Unchained" grossed $425 million worldwide at the box office and won Tarantino his second Best Original Screenplay Oscar. The film also won a second Academy Award when actor Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor Oscar, according to the New York Daily News. He had previously won the same award for another Tarantino film, "Inglourious Basterds."
