Actor Randy Quaid has filed a lawsuit claiming he was cheated out of big bucks by the producers of "Brokeback Mountain."
According to TMZ.com, Quaid says producers falsely represented the project to him as a "low-budget, art house film, with no prospect of making any money."
He says he even met with director Ang Lee who pitched the movie to him that everybody was doing the film as a labor of love.
TMZ said the suit didn't specify how much Quaid was paid for appearing in the gay-cowboy movie, but it claims the producers "were engaged in a 'movie laundering' scheme designed to obtain the services of talent" such as Quaid on "economically unfavorable art film terms."
"Brokeback Mountain" was made on an estimated budget of $14 million (£8.2 million) and has grossed around $160 million so far. Quaid is seeking $10 million in damages and "restitution for all ill-gotten gains."
The suit says, "Randy Quaid is an instantly recognizable household name and much-admired actor on the world's stage with a worldwide box office total of nearly $2 billion. Defendants were engaging in a 'movie laundering' scheme designed to obtain the services of talent... for a picture that, in reality, had studio backing and would be exploited using traditional studio marketing and distribution techniques."
