Classmates Sue Over 'Dazed and Confused'

[DenverChief]

I had no idea these were real guys

SANTA FE, N.M. - Three former high school classmates of "Dazed and Confused" director Richard Linklater have filed a lawsuit claiming they have suffered embarrassment and ridicule because of characters based on them in the movie.



The men — Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater and Richard "Pink" Floyd — say Linklater did not get their permission before creating three characters in the 1993 cult classic sharing their surnames and likenesses. The suit was filed Thursday in Santa Fe against Universal Studios, which released the film.

The movie follows the drug- and alcohol-fueled hijinks of teenagers on the last day of school in May 1976. The men said the negative characterizations in the film have made their lives miserable and caused their neighbors to think poorly of them.

"We had fun in high school, but there is nothing true about that movie. Yet, I am having to deal with it all the time," said Floyd, who works at a car dealership in Huntsville, Texas, where the men went to high school.

Ernest Freeman, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, said Slater has also had problems because people make assumptions that he takes illegal drugs.

Slater runs a construction and remodeling company and Wooderson works in the technology sector. Both men also still live in Huntsville. Linklater's agent did not immediately return a message Saturday seeking comment.

The suit was filed in New Mexico because it has a longer statute of limitations than other states for claims of defamation and false light, attorneys said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...nfused_lawsuit

[CosmicPal]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

What makes you sure you have any idea WHAT happened? I'm just talking likelihoods here.

You say no director would make a movie without getting a release for the names used. OTOH, that holds as much truth as 'nobody' would sue if they had signed a release.

The case is stupid enough on the facts, why the need to suppose all this other crap?

WTF is your gig, Baby Lee?

I am doing nothing but merely pointing out the hypothetical in that I find it rather disturbing Richard Linklater would develop a script with factual names in the characters without at first consulting with the real people in the first place.

Writers who leave the true identity of an autobiograhpical story without the consent of the character in writing- is asking for a lot of trouble. Defamation is a serious business, and all writers, agents, directors, and producers know that....

I think the "guys" feel like they are a reason behind the success of the film, and feel like they deserve a piece of that pie....so, after all these years, they finally think they might have something. Richard makes a movie about them and goes on to be a big timer in Hollywood, while the rest of them are stuck in small town Texas selling cars and fixing computers.

I'm just saying- writers know better than to publish something of an autobiographical nature without the consent of the characters in question.

If Richard Linklater failed to get their consent before selling the script to a producer- then he's one dumbazz screenwriter....I doubt that he is.

[Skip Towne]

You guys will treat me a lot better once I get that money.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by CosmicPal

WTF is your gig, Baby Lee?

I am doing nothing but merely pointing out the hypothetical in that I find it rather disturbing Richard Linklater would develop a script with factual names in the characters without at first consulting with the real people in the first place.

Writers who leave the true identity of an autobiograhpical story without the consent of the character in writing- is asking for a lot of trouble. Defamation is a serious business, and all writers, agents, directors, and producers know that....

I think the "guys" feel like they are a reason behind the success of the film, and feel like they deserve a piece of that pie....so, after all these years, they finally think they might have something. Richard makes a movie about them and goes on to be a big timer in Hollywood, while the rest of them are stuck in small town Texas selling cars and fixing computers.

I'm just saying- writers know better than to publish something of an autobiographical nature without the consent of the characters in question.

If Richard Linklater failed to get their consent before selling the script to a producer- then he's one dumbazz screenwriter....I doubt that he is.

I'm not trying to start a fight, but the very things you think "well he certainly wouldn't do that" is what leads to these sorts of lawsuits.

I mean, you conjure this scenario where the guys now suing told him "it'd be cool" if he used their likeness and names, and signed a waiver releasing to Rick their names.

But "surely that's how it must've happened" is not evidence.


I'd analogize it to Nejah Davenport laying cable in that girl's closet, and me coming on here an saying "well he'd have to be stupid to do that. The girl probably told him it was OK, that it was a toilet that just looked a lot like a closet."

[CosmicPal]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

But "surely that's how it must've happened" is not evidence.

Apparently, you do not understand the word- hypothetical.

Let me help you out here: hy-po-theth-i-cal. adj
1. assumed by hypothesis. 2. presumed to exist.

I hypothesize that Linklater wouldn't be dumb enough to use real names of real people in a real film without their prior consent...That's all I'm saying....if he did, I think we'd both agree he's a dumbazz.

[BigChiefFan]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Geez, you throw in some of Cosmic's stellar supposition, and the case really goes to shit!

Why I bet they signed a blood oath with the future director when they were kids to "never ever sue. . . especially never ever in New Mexico."

Seems just as probable that Linklater hated these guys in HS and meant to caricature them in the movie, then forgot to change their names to something fictional.

I don't think it's anymore than just common sense to draw the conclusion Cosmic is drawing. The guy that wrote the story afterall is a professional. This is a frivalous lawsuit and it's a shame some can't recognize that.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by CosmicPal

Apparently, you do not understand the word- hypothetical.

Let me help you out here: hy-po-theth-i-cal. adj
1. assumed by hypothesis. 2. presumed to exist.

I hypothesize that Linklater wouldn't be dumb enough to use real names of real people in a real film without their prior consent...That's all I'm saying....if he did, I think we'd both agree he's a dumbazz.

If all you are doing is hypothesizing, why go to the trouble of rolling your eyes at my speculation?

Originally Posted by BigChiefFan

I don't think it's anymore than just common sense to draw the conclusion Cosmic is drawing. The guy that wrote the story afterall is a professional. This is a frivalous lawsuit and it's a shame some can't recognize that.

Where did I say this wasn't frivalous [sp]? My point is, this already frivolous. Cosmic's additional speculation is unnecessary and stated with undue certainty. Show me a release and I'll agree. But to say "this is a smart guy, he probably has a release" when there is no evidence that is the case, and rolling your eyes when someone posits the possibility that there is no release is stupid.

What about, as I hypothesized earlier the posit that the girl in whose closet Davenport took his poo gave him permission? I mean, Davenport's a smart guy. Certainly he wouldn't poo somehwere without permission.

I mean, it's just a hypothesis.

I guess my central point is, hypotheses are fine, so long as you realize a hypothesis where you START your search for evidence in support. It's not evidence in itself, no matter how reasonable you think the hypothesis is.

[WilliamTheIrish]

I haven't seen a jettio post since this became public knowlege....

[Inspector]

Originally Posted by BrainCase

I must've done too many drugs. I see two kids in the middle.

Heck, I'm seeing six...




.....gonna go take another spoonful of cough syrup....