An Iraq War veteran is suing producers of Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-nominated film The Hurt Locker, claiming the war drama’s lead character is based on him and accusing filmmakers of cheating him out of “financial participation in the film.”
According to Reuters.com, Master Sgt. Jeffry Sarver., a bomb disposal expert, says the main character, Will James, is based on him and that James’ call signal, “Blaster One,” was his during his tours of duty. Sarver also says he coined the phrase The Hurt Locker. Sarver plans to file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Summit Entertainment, who produced the film, in Detroit federal court on Wednesday.
Summit Entertainment’s issued a statement saying it hopes “for a quick resolution to the claims made by Master Sgt. Sarver.”
The company says: “The film is a story about heroes depicting a fictional account of what brave men and women do on the battlefield. We have no doubt that Master Sgt. Sarver served his country with honour and commitment risking his life for a greater good, but we distributed the film based on a fictional screenplay written by Mark Boal.”
The suit is just the latest bit of trouble for the critcially-acclaimmed motion picture. On Tuesday, producer of the war story was banned from attending the Academy Awards because of emails he sent urging academy members to vote for the movie.
The Hurt Locker is nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, at Sunday’s 82nd annual Oscars.