“An Officer and a Gentleman”’s David Keith Sues Over Film Project

[WSJ_law_blog]

Actor David Keith (AP)

Readers of a certain age will remember David Keith as the actor who played Sid, Richard Gere’s sidekick in “An Officer and a Gentleman.” When Sid’s girlfriend spurns him at the end of the movie — “we had ourselves some real nice times . . .but I want to marry a pilot” — Big Sid hangs himself in a motel room.

Big Sid, once a victim of love’s vicissitudes, has apparently become a victim of the credit crunch. Here’s what happened: For years, actor David Keith has been trying to get Keith Whitley’s unlikely story to the big screen. Whitley was a child prodigy from Kentucky who became a bluegrass superstar but then succumbed to the bottle and died of alcohol poisoning at age 34.

Keith wanted to make “Kentucky Bluebird,” the story of Whitley’s life, and he thought he had a commitment from an Alabama businessman named Davis Lee, to finance the production to the tune of $10 million. But then Davis and his company backed out, according to a suit that Keith’s lawyers filed in U.S. District Court in Alabama. Here’s a report from the Knoxville News Sentinel.

According to the complaint, Keith had done considerable work getting the project ready, including winning the music rights for the soundtrack, signing up a cinematographer, script rewrites, casting sessions, the whole shebang. The complaint says he even secured verbal casting agreements from Billy Ray Cyrus and J.D. Crowe, a bluegrass artist.

But just as Keith rounded that final production corner, the lawsuit alleges, Lee, in January 2007, abruptly and without explanation pulled out of the deal. Keith is asking in the lawsuit that U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips order Lee to ante up the promised $10 million in financing and foot the bill for Keith’s legal expenses.


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“Kentucky Bluebird,” the story of Whitley’s office [??]
What, how he chose a desk and draperies?
Comment by Anonymous - November 13, 2008 at 11:09 am

Did Keith swallow the script before filing the lawsuit? I can just hear Lee, saying to Keith, “we had ourselves some real nice ideas… but I wanted to finance a blockbuster.”
Comment by anon - November 13, 2008 at 11:11 am

Isn’t that pretty much how the movie business works? Nothing is a go until shooting starts?
Comment by Anonymous - November 13, 2008 at 11:58 am