Lawsuit Filed over 'Bad Lieutenant' Accounting

A film production company that helped finance a 2009 Nicolas Cage film, “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call—New Orleans,” has filed suit against the movie studios, claiming they failed to pay a proper share of the profits.

Polsky Films, run by brothers Alan and Gabe Polsky, and a related entity, Polsky Holdings, filed a complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this month against Nu Image and First Look Studios, along with studio executives, claiming the studios failed to properly set up a collection account into which they were supposed to deposit proceeds from the film.

The Polskys claim they invested $1.3 million to finance the print and advertising budget for the Werner Herzog-directed Cage film, which was inspired by the 1992 movie “Bad Lieutenant,” starring Harvey Keitel and directed by Abel Ferrara.

The Polskys claim that expenses were improperly deducted from the account, and the defendants failed to disburse proceeds to them to cover their print and advertising contribution. They also claim the studios did not accurately account for the money in the account, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The Polskys accused the studios and executives of using the money in the account to pay themselves and to siphon money from the proceeds to which they were not entitled, according to Courthouse News Service. They said they have been refused an accounting of the money in the account, but their auditors have nonetheless found “a number of discrepancies.”

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