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Topics: Film and TV
Hannah Smith
Two fans of Cuban-American actor Ana de Armas have sued a major Hollywood studio after she was cut from one of its movies.
Conor Woulfe and Peter Rosza, from California, filed a lawsuit against Universal Studios claiming that they had been duped by marketing for the Richard Curtis comedy Yesterday, after renting the movie having seen de Armas in the trailer.
Upon watching the film, they discovered that scenes featuring de Armas had been cut, and have now decided to file a lawsuit asking for $5 million in compensation on behalf of other fans who were similarly deceived by the actor's presence in the trailer.
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Woulfe and Rosza each paid $3.99 for the Danny Boyle-directed film, which follows a struggling singer as he rises to fame after waking up from an accident to discover that he is the only person in the world who can remember any of The Beatles' songs.
De Armas filmed scenes in which she played a love interest of the main character, played by Himesh Patel, but her appearance was removed from the final cut after focus audiences reportedly didn't like the storyline.
Promoting the film during its 2019 release, Curtis, who wrote the screenplay for the film, praised de Armas's contribution, saying she had been 'brilliant' in the role and that making the decision to remove her had been 'very traumatic'.
Nevertheless, Woulfe and Rousza would like their money back, plus a lot more, claiming that Universal used the Knives Out star's 'fame, radiance and brilliance' to promote a film in which she ultimately did not appear.
'Although defendant included the scenes with Ms de Armas in the movie trailer advertisements, for the purposes of promoting Yesterday and enticing film sales and rentals, Ms de Armas is not and was never in the publicly released version of the movie,' the court filing states, per The Hollywood Reporter.
It adds that the film was 'unable to rely on fame of the actors playing Jack Malik [Patel] or Ellie [Lily James] to maximize ticket and movie sales and rentals'.
In addition, the plaintiffs claim that a performance by the main character of the hit Beatles single Something was also cut from the movie, claiming that the trailer aimed to 'piggyback' off the popularity of the song.
Yesterday earned around $154 million in box office takings worldwide.
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