An extra bumped up to a speaking roles files for lack of pay!
A man claims he was not fairly compensated after James Cameron bumped him up from an extra to a principal role on 1997’s Titanic is suing the studios, production companies, and distributors behind the Oscar award winning movie.
Vi Jay filed a suit Friday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, says he was promised $60 a day to do background work on Titanic. However, upon arrinv on the set in 1996, Cameron “in the spur of the moment, directed Plaintiff in playing the principal-performer role of the Spindley Porter” along side Kathy Bates in her first scene in the movie. Vi Jay was shown carrying luggage and reciting dialogue.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jay, who was not a member of the Screen Actors, says the union should have been notified of his role change and eh should have been given the opportunity to join the guild. However, since this did not happen, he was unable to receive royalties from foreign screenings of the film, as well as other royalties.He is suing for fraud by concealment, right to publicity, common law appropriation of likeness, among other things. He seeks unspecified damages at a trial by jury.
