The estate of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ author Harper Lee has filed a lawsuit over an upcoming Broadway adaptation of the novel, arguing that it wrongly alters Atticus Finch and other characters from the book.
The suit claims screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s script portrays Finch, the noble attorney who represents a black man wrongly accused of rape, as someone else in the play.
Author Harper Lee signed a contract for the play with Sorkin in February 2016, just eight months before her death.
Filed against the theater company of New York producer Scott Rudin, the complaint cites an interview with the online publication Vulture in which Sorkin was quoted as saying the small-town lawyer would evolve from a racist apologist at the start of the show to become ‘Atticus Finch by the end of the play’.
The estate of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ author Harper Lee has filed suit over an upcoming Broadway adaptation of the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ set to open in Dec. 2018. Pictured is Lee in August 2007
The federal lawsuit filed this week in Alabama argues that screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s (pictured) script wrongly alters Atticus Finch and other characters from the book
Such a change during a play could fit with the character evolution shown between the Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Mockingbird’ and Lee’s first draft of the novel, finally released in 2015 as ‘Go Set a Watchman’.
But the lawsuit contends the script would violate the contract by changing Finch and other characters, and adding more people who aren’t in the novel.
The suit claims the contract explicitly states that main characters such as Finch should not be altered in the play
It asks a judge to enforce a section of the agreement that states the play won’t ‘depart in any manner from the spirit of the Novel nor alter its characters’.
A firm that represents Rudin’s company, Rudinplay Inc., said Sorkin’s script ‘is a faithful adaptation of a singular novel which has been crafted well within the constraints of the signed agreement’ between the producers and Lee.
The statement also took a jab at the ‘history of litigious behavior’ of Lee’s estate, overseen by attorney Tonja Carter of Lee’s south Alabama hometown of Monroeville.
‘This is, unfortunately, simply another such lawsuit, the latest of many, and we believe that it is without merit,’ said the statement. ‘While we hope this gets resolved, if it does not, the suit will be vigorously defended.’
The play is scheduled to open in New York in December with Jeff Daniels – known for his role in roles in Terms of Endearment, Dumb and Dumber and The Newsroom – cast to play Atticus Finch.
The suit names as its plaintiff Carter, who represented Lee during the final years of the author’s life. Carter handled Lee’s will and is listed in the lawsuit as the personal representative of Lee’s estate.
Jeff Daniels, who starred in Dumb and Dumber and The Newsroom, is set to play Atticus Finch in the Broadway adaption of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
The novel was first adapted into a movie in 1962 where Gregory Peck (pictured left) played Atticus
Rudinplay paid Lee $100,000 after she approved Sorkin as the screenwriter in November 2015, the suit said.
Carter first saw a draft of the play in September, according to the lawsuit, and she later spoke with Rudin by phone to express numerous concerns about Sorkin’s script.
‘Mr. Rudin assured Ms. Carter that he wanted to do the Play right and that he would make sure that the Estate would be satisfied with the final product,’ the suit said.
The two talked again in February about the script, suit said, adding: ‘At times, the conversation was heated.’ Carter sued after Rudin’s attorney wrote earlier this month saying extensive changes to the script weren’t possible, the suit said.
Sorkin has won multiple Emmys for his work on the drama series ‘The West Wing,’ and he won an Academy Award for his screenplay of ‘The Social Network’ in 2011.
Rudin’s credits include ‘Lady Bird,’ which was nominated for an Academy Award as best motion picture this year, and ‘Fences,’ which was a 2017 nominee. He won a best picture Oscar for ‘No Country for Old Men’ in 2008.