De Armas fans sue Universal over absence from 'Yesterday'

Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Fans of Ana de Armas have filed a lawsuit against Universal Pictures alleging they were tricked into renting "Yesterday" because the actress appeared in the trailer despite her absence from the film.

Conor Woulfe, 38, of Maryland, and Peter Michael Rosza, 44, of San Diego County, Calif., filed the consumer protection class action lawsuit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California because of the film's "false, deceptive and misleading" trailer.

Rosza said in the lawsuit that he first watched the trailer for the movie on Oct. 31 using Amazon's internet movie streaming service before renting the $3.99 movie to watch at home. Woulfe similarly said he watched the trailer for the film on July 12 before he too rented the film.

"Nationwide advertising and promotion of the movie 'Yesterday' represents to prospective movie viewers that the world-famous actress Ana de Armas has a substantial character role in the film," the lawsuit reads. "Yesterday, however, fails to include any appearance of Ana de Armas whatsoever."

The lawsuit includes a list of factual allegations, which describe de Armas' fame in a bid to describe why the two fans would watch the film solely for her appearance in it.

"Ana de Armas is a talented, successful, and famous actress, that has starred in such movies as Blade Runner 2049, War Dogs and Knives Out," the lawsuit reads. "Demonstrating her demand in the film industry, Ms. de Armas was chosen to be a female lead in the movie No Time to Die, co-starring Daniel Craig."

The lawsuit notes that de Armas has around 5.3 million followers on Instagram and was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for her Knives Out role.

"De Armas is famous throughout America and the world because of her successful movie and other media appearances," the lawsuit reads.

Screenwriter Richard Curtis told CinemaBlend in 2019 that de Armas was "radiant" in her role but it was cut because audiences didn't like that her character flirted with the film's main character, played by Himesh Patel, who was in a committed relationship with another character played by Lily James.

"I think the audience did not like the fact that his eyes even strayed," Curtis said. "You know, it's one of those things where it's some of our favorite scenes from the film, but we had to cut them for the sake of the whole."

The film follows Patel's character, Jack Malik, a struggling singer-songwriter in England who wakes up after a bus accident to discover that The Beatles never existed. Jack introduces the world to the band's music, leading him to rocket to fame but threatening his relationship with his childhood best friend, Ellie, played by James.