$100m 'hit' on TV star
2003-03-12 08:01
Los Angeles - A US television network on Tuesday hit back at the star of the hit Mafia series The Sopranos, warning him to settle a contract row or face more than $100 million in damages.
The HBO cable network filed the countersuit against James Gandolfini, 41 - who plays mob patriarch Tony Soprano in the globally-syndicated series - five days after he sued HBO amid a bitter dispute over his salary.
The actor, who is reportedly demanding a raise in his $400 000 per episode salary to around $750 000 - claims that he is under no obligation to return to the show when the fifth season begins filming on March 24.
In his suit he alleged that the network failed to inform him within a specified deadline period that they would require his services for the fifth year of the show that revolved around his character.
But HBO dismissed the actor's claims, and responded in its countersuit that Gandolfini is obliged to turn up, warning that he will be liable for more than $100 million in damages if he fails to do so.
Fully aware
The actor's representatives have "repeatedly demanded more than his agreed compensation and, when their most recent demand for another massive increase was not met, trumped up spurious theories as a means of coercing (HBO) into acceding to their demand," the HBO suit said.
The network alleged that Gandolfini was given plenty of notice that he would be needed for the new season, and that Gandolfini was "fully aware" that not showing up for work "would cause the series not to be produced".
"He's going to owe a huge amount of money," warned HBO attorney Bert Fields after the filing, adding that Gandolfini's suit was "absolute rubbish".
Fields said the HBO damage figure was arrived at by calculating the financial fallout from the "estimated loss of the series, one of the most successful series in television history. It's huge", he said.
HBO is also seeking to bar Gandolfini from working anywhere else until the case is settled.
Negotiation tactics
Fields said Gandolfini's "contract is explicit. It says 10 days after HBO decided to go forward, he will get unconditional written notice" of the renewal. "He knows it," Fields claimed.
An HBO official last week dismissed Gandolfini's actions as "nothing more than a renegotiation tactic".
Gandolfini claims that he should have been informed that he would be needed for the new series within 10 days of HBO's payment of $20 million to series creator David Chase for a new season.
"Our position is that there is no legal obligation for James Gandolfini to perform services for the upcoming season," his lawyer Martin Singer said last week. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA