LOS ANGELES, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. movie version of his book "Sahara" lost about $105 million and novelist Clive Cussler is suing because he wasn't given enough control of the project.
In fact Cussler was dismissive of the film even before it opened in April 2005 because he didn't like the script, saying it doesn't have much to do with the book on which the film is based.
He's about to get his day in court, though, as The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that jury selection in Cussler's breach-of-contract suit against Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz is to begin next month.
The Times said Anschutz agreed to buy $10 million per book for rights to Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels and gave Cussler control over the script, director and lead actors -- the author reportedly nixed Tom Cruise for the role.
The novelist sued Anschutz's company Crusader Entertainment for breach of contract. Cussler claims the company "kept lying" and did not give him the "absolute" approval rights for "Sahara" as promised.
An Anschutz countersuit alleges Cussler exaggerated the number of novels he'd sold, and tried to blackmail the film company by "slandering the movie" before its release.
