The Weinsteins are not having the best time of it recently. With the lawsuit over Lee Daniels’ The Butler now resolved, and not in the Weinsteins favor, the company is once again faced with another legal battle. This one comes from Arrow Productions, the company responsible for the famed 1972 porn film Deep Throat. Arrow, it appears, is not happy with the Weinsteins’ recent film Lovelace, which stars Amanda Seyfried as Linda Lovelace, the star of Deep Throat.
Arrow Productions claims that they have both the names Deep Throat and ‘Linda Lovelace’ copyrighted. Lovelace was the stage name of actress Linda Susan Boreman Traynor, who shot to stardom via Deep Throat and later came to regret making the film. Arrow says that Lovelace uses both copyrighted names, as well as recreating scenes from the original without permission. They also don’t like the way the film depicts Lovelace’s reaction to Deep Throat, including showing the violence committed against her by her husband Chuck Traynor (Peter Sarsgaard). They claim that Deep Throat “has suffered far more controversy than the typical film does and it has been harmed far more than the typical film has been by untrue and unfair attacks and mischaracterizations.”
The crux in all of this appears to be that the Weinstein Company didn’t ask Arrow permission for using Deep Throat and Linda Lovelace, on which grounds Arrow probably has a good case. The other claim that Lovelace will in any way harm the reputation of Deep Throat as a film is asinine. If anything, Lovelace will reignite interest in the film.
Lovelace is set to premiere August 9th on VOD and in theatres. It’s been a long time in coming (hehe). Although the Weinsteins will probably have to pay Arrow for the privilege, there doesn’t appear to be any reason to hold up release.
