The bloated 2005 action- adventure Sahara would not warrant a footnote in cinema history were it not for the four-year lawsuit it prompted. The case finally concluded last week. The movie stars Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt, a marine engineer and government agent who is a recurring character in the novels of Clive Cussler.
Cussler, who insisted on script approval when he sold the film rights for $10 million, sued the producer, Crusader Entertainment, claiming it changed the script without approval and failed to pay him all he was owed.
The court case revealed that the producers spent thousands of dollars on bribing officials in Morocco, where
Sahara
was partially filmed.
Crusader counter-sued, claiming the author “intentionally poisoned the environment for the film” with his “derogatory comments”. Now a Los Angeles court has ordered Cussler to pay $27 million in legal fees and damages.
Incidentally, Dirk Pitt was first played by Richard Jordan in
Raise the Titanic
(1980). That was such a costly flop that producer Lew Grade, remarked, “It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic.”
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