The Hollywood actor Mel Gibson filed the legal papers requesting a judge to dismiss the fraud allegations against him. These had been filed against him in a recent lawsuit by the co-screenwriter of the religious epic ‘The Passion of the Christ’. The actor had been accused of the charges of fraud and also the breach of the contract. There were charges against him for unfair business practices also in the same lawsuit. The director of the movie, Benedict Fitzgerald, had accused the actor of trying to engage in chronic and other conspirator practices of deceit where he told the screen writers that he was working on a project that had a budget of about 5 to 7 million dollars.
However Fitzgerald said that he had only been paid an amount of $75,000 and he had to borrow another $200,000 from Mel Gibson to meet the other expenses. But the estimated budget of The Passion of the Christ is said to be about $600 million worldwide. The lawsuit filed against the actor reads that he had taken monetary advantage of Benedict Fitzgerald and also misused his spiritual beliefs. But the actor requested the judge to drop these charges on the facts that Benedict Fitzgerald needed to know that the budget of The Passion of the Christ would be extensive since the film was so controversial and had attracted so much publicity. He also added that Fitzgerald waited very long to file the suit and did not give any explanation for the delay. The hearing for this case has been set on 20th of June.
The movie, The Passion of the Christ had already entered some great controversies while the movie was being made and even after it was released. The decision of the director to file a case after such a long time had come as a surprise element to many who were involved in the movie. Though the actor has decided to fight back and says that the claim is baseless the decision for the same can only be made after the case is heard in the court.
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Mel Gibson asks Judge to dismiss fraud allegations