SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — A bomb disposal expert who served in the Iraq war plans to sue the makers of “The Hurt Locker,” claiming the film’s lead character is based on him and that they cheated him out of “financial participation in the film.”
Attorney Geoffrey Fieger says he plans to file the multimillion-dollar lawsuit in New Jersey federal court on behalf of Master Sgt. Jeffry Sarver. He held a news conference in Southfield, Mich., to discuss the lawsuit Wednesday.
Sarver claims the film’s screenwriter, Mark Boal, was embedded in Sarver’s unit and that the information he gathered was used in the film. The film is nominated for nine Academy Awards, including best original screenplay.
The movie’s U.S. distributor, Summit Entertainment, says it “distributed the film based on a fictional screenplay” and hopes “for a quick resolution to the claims made by Master Sgt. Sarver.”