A High Court judge has ruled that Steve Coogan's portrayal of a university academic in a film about the discovery of Richard III's remains had a defamatory meaning.
University official Richard Taylor is suing actor Steve, his production company Baby Cow and Pathe Productions for libel over his 'devious' and 'weasel-like' portrayal in a movie about the discovery of Richard III's remains. In a preliminary judgment on Friday, Judge Lewis ruled the film, titled The Lost King, portrayed Mr Taylor as having “knowingly misrepresented facts to the media and the public” about the discovery, and as being “smug, unduly dismissive and patronising”, which could be defamatory.
The judge added: "The character Mr Taylor was portrayed throughout the film in a negative light. At no point was he shown in a way that could be described as positive, or even neutral. Whilst an individual scene may not in itself cross the threshold of seriousness, taken together the film makes a powerful comment about the claimant and the way he conducted himself when undertaking a senior professional role for a university.
“The poor way in which he was depicted as behaving towards Ms Langley was contrary to common shared values of our society and would have been recognised as such by the hypothetical reasonable viewer.”
University official Richard Taylor sued actor Steve for libel over his 'devious' and 'weasel-like' portrayal (Creative and Print Services, Loughborough University)
Mr Coogan was a writer and producer on The Lost King (Getty Images for BAFTA)
The judge added that he didn't think viewers of the movie would leave the film thinking 'that it was saying that the claimant was a misogynist or sexist' and said viewers wouldn't think Mr Taylor was 'equating Richard III’s physical deformity with wickedness or moral failings' from the portrayal.
Serena Williams' dad 'King Richard' offered '$500,000 reality TV show deal'
The case can now proceed to trial but a date has not yet been set. Mr Coogan was a writer and producer on The Lost King, which follows Phillipa Langley and her search to find the controversial king’s skeletal remains. The lost remains of the Plantagenet king were found in a Leicester car park in 2012, more than 500 years after his death.
The Lost King was based on the 2013 book The King's Grave: The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones. In the dramatisation of the movie, Sally Hawkins played Philippa while Coogan played John Langley, the estranged husband of Langley.
Mr Coogan was a writer, producer and actor on The Lost King (Warner Bros.)Lee Ingleby was the actor who portrayed Richard Taylor. The fictional version of him was portrayed as being initially obstructive and dismissive of Langley's project but later became a supporter of her work. He also omitted her from the press conference revealing the results to the world.
At a hearing earlier this year, William Bennett KC said his client Mr Taylor was presented as being “dismissive, patronising and misogynistic” towards Ms Langley.
The barrister said in written submissions in February: “The relevant context is the ‘good versus bad’ narrative, which runs through the film. Ms Langley is portrayed as the gutsy underdog heroine struggling against opposition and the claimant as the arrogant villain. He not only takes steps to make sure that people do not know about her role but takes the credit, which was rightfully hers, for himself and the university.”
Mr Taylor, who is now chief operating officer at Loughborough University, was also shown as a “devious, weasel-like person” and a “suited bean-counter”, Mr Bennett told the High Court in London.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
