Cast of Characters vs. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen lawsuit

The Cast of Characters vs. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ("LXG") lawsuit involved Larry Cohen and Martin Poll issuing a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox over the film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Overview
In 2003, a lawsuit was brought by screenwriter Larry Cohen and his producing partner Martin Poll, claiming that 20th Century Fox had intentionally plagiarized a prospective script of theirs entitled Cast of Characters in order to create the Sean Connery-starring League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film.

The film was ostensibly based on the work of comics writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill, although many fans felt that it bore scant resemblance to their original work. Nevertheless, the lawsuit brought by Cohen and Poll actively alleged that DC had solicited the comics series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from Moore as a "smokescreen" for their intent to produce a movie plagiarizing Cast of Characters.

Allegations
Cohen and Poll alleged that they had submitted several drafts of their script between 1993 and 1996, and that Fox had decided to develop the project under its own title, cutting Poll and Cohen out of the deal. They further alleged that Fox contacted respected comic-book author Alan Moore to write a graphic novel based on their ideas as a "smokescreen" for plagiarising the movie script. As evidence, they pointed out that Fox hired screenwriters to develop Moore's comic-book in 1998, even though the first issue of Moore's 6 issue series wasn't published until February 1999.

Rebuttal

It was also noted that, although Moore may well have only written the script for the first issue in 1998 (after scriptwriters were hired to work on the movie version), the original concept dated back considerably further, and was part of Moore's original proposal to Jim Lee, as part of Moore's America's Best Comics line of comics. It was on the strength of Moore's name and the proposal that rights were purchased from him for the film version. (It is also worth noting that the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was Moore's first self-created work in several years, very densely plotted (as can be seen in the scriptbook volume which accompanies ), and clearly the product of extensive preliminary research before 1998.)

Cast and character similarities
The key elements of the lawsuit pointed to similarities between plot and character, but side-stepped the issue of Fox using the premise of Moore's comic, rather than the plot, as well as adding several characters not present in the comic.
As confessed-Moore fan and comics gossip writer Rich Johnston noted, after thoroughly investigating the case, (which in comics circles was seen as less about the plagiarism per se, and more about the serious implications towards the character of Alan Moore):
:"there was some resemblance between the "Cast" and "League" screenplays - but mostly over aspects of the film that did not appear in the comic book, Quatermain as the lead hero, the appearance of Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray with Huckleberry Finn as the revealed villain amongst others. It's arguable that the case had merit, but not against Alan Moore."

Cohen and Poll cited the character of Dorian Gray as having appeared in their script; Gray was not part of Moore's League. Poll & Cohen's screenplay featured Sherlock Holmes in battle with James Moriarty, but while an issue of comic The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen featured Holmes in flashback, and the series as a whole did indeed feature the character of Moriarty prominently, the film version was less clear - conflating the comics-stated "Moriarty" character with the Phantom of the Opera-esque "Fantom", and did not feature Holmes at all.

Tom Sawyer seemed as the "token American," inserted into the British League solely to appease an American movie-going public. When asked about this, actor Shane West suggested the similar reason that perhaps Hollywood required characters "to appeal to everybody," so to chase "the younger audience as well, they added this character."

Mina Murray, leader of the League, strong suffragette survivor of Dracula uses her maiden name in the comic; in the film she retains her more-famous surname, has taken on the characteristic vampiric traits she does not display on the page and defers leadership to Connery's Allan Quatermain. Indeed, "LXG" (as the filmed termed itself) bears very little resemblance to the comics of Moore and O'Neill, making the suggestion that the comic was a smokescreen for plagiarism seem patently bizarre.

Moore
Moore had been displeased since DC bought WildStorm (with whom he had initially signed to produce his America's Best Comics line, of which The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was one title), having taken exception some years earlier to their handling of reprint contracts over his V for Vendetta and Watchmen collections, and vowed not to work for them again. He agreed not to break his contract with WildStorm (and therefore working for DC by proxy) provided, among several stipulations, that the DC logo did not appear on any of the ABC line, and that he would be free from high-up editorial interference.

Further, the suggestion that an author of Moore's status (his earlier work Watchmen is the only comic/graphic novel on Time Magazine's Top 100 Novels list, and is one of the most critically acclaimed comicbooks written, while Moore is one of the most highly regarded writers) would actively set out to plagiarise anothers' work as a smokescreen for a film adaptation did not seem to the outside observor particularly likely.

Moore was never-the-less forced to testify for more than 10 hours via video-link, defending his actions in writing his self-created (if itself derivative, of both Victorian literature and Wold Newton-esque theory) comicbook series.

Impact on Moore
The lawsuit's accusations against Moore in particular (and Fox's settlement thereof, to his mind lending undue credence to the allegations) disappointed and angered him so much that he requested all usages of his name be removed from LXG, and made a point of stating that he would allow no subsequent works based on products solely owned by him to be turned into films.

After comments made during the filming of V for Vendetta, Moore made good his threat, and left DC entirely.

Moore on film
As a direct result of the court case surrounding "LXG", Moore demanded his name be removed from any further films of his work, and eschewed all royalties due, too (his share will now go to the artists involved). So far, this decision/demand has affected V for Vendetta, Constantine (a character Moore created) and Watchmen.

Moore in comics
In addition to refusing royalties and demanding his name be removed, Moore attempted to have his name removed from the V for Vendetta collection, also. He was unsuccessful. (And this had less to do with the "LXG" lawsuit or Silver's comments, and more to do with the initial contracts signed between Moore, artist David Lloyd and DC.)

In 2003, Moore effectively retired from comics (with the definite exception of further League of Extraordinary Gentlemen adventures), although his "retirement" is a loose one, and may be tied more to his turning 50, and numerous difficulties with a number of publishers than strictly to the "LXG" lawsuit. As a result of producer Joel Silver's comments during the making of the V for Vendetta film, Moore withdrew the League comic from WildStorm/DC, and future volumes of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (after 2007's The Black Dossier, which was already under contract prior to Silver's comments) will be published by Top Shelf Comix in the US and Knockabout Comics in the UK.

==Impact on "LXG" cast and crew==

Scriptwriter James Robinson took a lot of criticism from fans of the comic over the changes from page to screen (although most were charitable enough to realise that most were likely the result of studio interference), but was not noticeably linked to the lawsuit. He has not, according to the Internet Movie Database, written a screenplay since "LXG" (although he had only written a couple before then, so there is no definite causal link), and has recently returned to DC Comics to write their Superman title.

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