Guy Ritchie is reportedly sued for alleged breach of contract over The Gentlemen

Guy Ritchie has reportedly been sued over his movie The Gentlemen as the writer Mickey De Hara alleged that Ritchie copied scenes from a script he had submitted to the director.

In a lawsuit filed in London High Court last month reported via Variety, De Hara said that Ritchie commissioned him to write a sequel to the 2008 gangster movie RockNRolla, based on De Hara’s “personal life experiences” about his jail period due to possession of cocaine and cannabis “with intent to supply”.

The outlet reported that De Hara mentioned that in 2018, after he had sent Ritchie his screenplay about a protagonist who runs a marijuana business, Ritchie told him “the time of the gangster movie was over” while hinting at not doing this project in future.

However, to De Hara’s utter surprise, The Gentlemen came out two years later, after which De Hara claimed that the movie was a “substantial reproduction” of his script.

In the lawsuit, it read, “The Gentlemen copies De Hara’s cast of characters and unique aspects of the plot.”

De Hara revealed that after the movie’s release, he contacted Ritchie explained how the two projects were similar. To this, Ritchie responded, “Mickey, I and my people have tried to contact you for some years now. There was no response. I am happy for us to sit down and have a chat.”

De Hara commented that Ritchie denied the request for a “writer’s credit on the movie”.

Nonetheless, De Hara now wanted more than $250,000 and “credit for his original work that has been used in The Gentlemen without his consent and without payment of the agreed remuneration”.

Meanwhile, Ritchie is reportedly yet to file his defence to the lawsuit.