‘Mockingbird’ Broadway producer sues Harper Lee’s estate
NEW YORK — The producer of the Broadway production of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” has filed a countersuit against the executor of the late author’s estate which challenged screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Scott Rudin’s production company, Rudinplay, filed the lawsuit in Manhattan on Monday demanding $10 million from Lee’s estate for damages and threatening to cancel the play scheduled to open in December.
“Investors are not willing to invest millions of dollars when a cloud exits,” the lawsuit claims.
Lee’s estate filed a federal lawsuit last month in Alabama over the play, arguing that Sorkin’s script wrongly alters Atticus Finch and other characters from the book.