Variety brings news of a potentially nasty piece of movie-related litigation. Seems that author James Reston Jr. has some serious problems with Ridley Scott‘s upcoming "Kingdom of Heaven" — particularly William Monahan’s screenplay. Mr. Reston claims that "the pic draws heavily from his 2001 tome ‘Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade,’" and that "the entire second half of the shooting script is based on the first 105 pages of his book."For their part, Fox "believes the claims to be absolutely without merit," and that "no one involved in making the movie had even read Reston’s book." Expect further news soon, be it a dropped suit, a settlement, or an actual court battle.
