Olivia de Havilland’s ‘Feud’ Suit Tossed on Appeal

A California appellate court has tossed out that lawsuit being waged by 101-year-old cinema legend Olivia de Havilland against Ryan Murphy (b. 1965).

De Havilland just got stubbed out by the MPAA, Netflix and Ryan Murphy

Deadline reports the suit was thrown out on appeal because de Havilland, incensed by her portrayal in Murphy's 2017 miniseries Feud, does not have "the legal right to control, dictate, approve, disapprove, or veto the creator's portrayal of actual people."

Catherine Zeta-Jones (b. 1969) should have been sued for that performance! (Image via Netflix)

I knew it would go this way, and I'm sympathetic to filmmakers engaging in biopics, but I also think Murphy goes out of his way to propagate wildly distorted perceptions of reality in his projects, not caring whether people's opinions become hardened in he direction of fallacy.

For example, he showed Sal Mineo (1939-1976) being knifed by a trick on American Horror Story; staged fake '70s Oscar interviews in which de Havilland was supposedly dishing on Joan Crawford (circa 1905-1977) and Bette Davis (1908-1989); an in The Assassination of  Gianni Versace (2018) made up whether real-life figures ever met, made up Andrew Cunanan (1969-1997) being sexually molested by his dad, etc.

I wish filmmakers would take their roles more seriously when it comes to capturing the truth — or at least not presenting things they know are untrue.

 

1 Response

  1. Matt-I noticed those things too, but remember Murphy will hide behind the disclaimer that these are not fact based, but ‘interpretations’ or fictional re-enactments, whatever that means. I noticed that the Versace show was based on Maureen Orth’s book, ‘Vulgar Favors’, which I read and certainly don’t recall anything about Cunanan’s father. Oh well…

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