Don's Plum is an independent black and white film made in 1996 by actor-turned director R. D. Robb and co-produced by Dave Stutman, and starring Leonardo di Caprio and Tobey Maguire, plus their friend Kevin ("Unhappily Ever After") Connelly (who, as all "Great Scott!" fans know played Scott Melrod's best friend), with Jeremy Sisto (whom we praise in our reviews of White Squall and Suicide Kings), Marissa Ribissi, and (near as we can tell from having seen much-too-little of it) Michael (Nestor on "Married With Children") Faustino -- among others. Mr. Stutman is alleging that Leonardo and Tobey are using their new-found clout to block release of the film, while Leo's people are saying that Stutman is exploiting a favor which Leo (and Tobey) did for him. After two years of negotiations, Stutman has hit Leo and Tobey with a ten million dollar law suit. We have no idea what Tobey, Kevin, Jeremy, Michael, et al. actually have to say about all of this, as of today, but we shall try to find out. In the meantime, here is a link to Mr. ShowBiz's article from 1997, which has MANY details.
LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST ACTORS LEONARDO DICAPRIO AND
TOBEY MAGUIRE BY PRODUCER
Of Motion Picture, 'Don's Plum'
A Statement from Kevin James, Attorney At Law,
With Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger:
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent producer David Stutman and his production company, Polo Pictures
Entertainment, have brought a lawsuit against Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, in connection with the film "Don's Plum,"
alleging Five Causes of Action, which are:
1) Declaratory Relief
2) Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage
3) Breach of Contract
4) Slander of Title
5) Injunctive Relief
Caption of the case: David Stutman, doing business as (DBA) Polo
Pictures Entertainment, plaintiff v. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, defendants; Los Angeles Superior Court, Central
District. Case #: BC 189400
SOURCE Greenburg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger
-0- 04/15/98 /CONTACT: Dan Harary or Mike Garfinkel, both of Asbury Communications, Inc., {DELETED BY JAUNDICED EYE}; or Kevin James,
Attorney at Law, of Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman & Machtinger, {DELETED BY JAUNDICED EYE}/ CO: Greenburg Glusker Fields Claman &
Machtinger ST: California IN: ENT SU:
(15 Apr 1998 09:14 EDT)
The pictures below are from Don's Plum and ARE covered by U. S. Copyright, but we have been completely unable to find out who actually owns the copyright (probably Polo Pictures). We present these jpeg's for their news-worthiness and as fair comment on the content of Don's Plum, but we STRONGLY caution our readers not to download or copy them while the status of the film is up in the air (i.e., there ARE people involved in this who WILL sue your ass off!):
Tobey Maguire in Don's Plum.
Kevin Connelly and Tobey Maguire in Don's Plum.
Leonardo Di Caprio andTobey Maguire in Don's Plum.
Tobey Maguire, Leonardo Di Caprio and Kevin Connelly in Don's Plum.
For those of you who are not video-savvy, those numbers along the bottom of each picture identify the exact frame of the film's "window burn dub," and they make it damned easy to trace unauthorized copies. Feel free to bookmark this page, but, we repeat: DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR COPY THESE PICTURES!
29 April 1998: We offered Mr. Stutman's attorney and the managers of both R. D. Robb and Tobey Maguire up to four hours of television studio time which we had available. They elected not to avail themselves of the opportunity to record lots of "sound bites" (or even a major presentation) regarding their various positions. We taped some of our own material, instead. WE TRIED, PEOPLE -- WE TRIED!
