Terrence Howard has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Cinemark, Digital Ignition Entertainment, Argonaut Entertainment Partners, and others for releasing the film, Triumph, in which he stars, without his consent. Howard explains that he only agreed to appear in the film “conditioned upon the satisfaction of material monetary and non-monetary promises made by the producers, which never happened.”
Breaking Bad star RJ Mitte also appears in the movie, which follows a high school wrestler with cerebral palsy. Howard plays Mitte’s coach in the film. Triumph was released in theaters on April 30.
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Howard’s letter also threatens action if the companies continue to use the actor’s likeness in further “distribution, advertising, promotion, and/or exhibition of ‘Triumph’ in any manner.”
Digital Ignition Entertainment explained the situation to TMZ: “The producers made this film with a mission to help advance awareness of Cerebral Palsy and to do our part to promote inclusion in film. We couldn’t be more proud of the job our cast and crew did to highlight the remarkable accomplishments of the writer of the film, who has Cerebral Palsy, and the lead actor of the film, RJ Mitte, who is also diagnosed with cerebral palsy.”
[Via]