Well it’s been a great week for lawsuits so far, and now we’ve got one more to add to the pile. Apparently the screenwriter of The Passion of the Christ, Mr. Benedict Fitzgerald, is suing director Mel Gibson for fraud and breach of contract after he lied to him about the movie’s budget. Fitzgerald claims that Gibson told him the flick would cost between $4 million and $7 million, prompting him to accept a screenwriting salary much lower than what he would have asked for, had he known the movie’s true budget (between $25 and $50 million).

This certainly isn’t the first time someone involved in a movie has asked for a bigger piece of the pie after a film has gone on to become a massive blockbuster. If I remember correctly, the same thing happened with Brokeback Mountain and possibly Crash, among others. Although I can see Fitzgerald’s point, the unfortunate thing is that it’s all too easy ask for money after the fact (funny that this lawsuit is being filed right after the WGA strike, isn’t it?), but meanwhile Mel Gibson had to put his own money on the line to get it made in the first place. If the movie had gone on to be a flop, would Fitzgerald still be complaining?

On the other hand, he does claim that Mel Gibson “promised he wouldn’t receive any money from the film” because he didn’t want “money on the back of what he considered a personal gift to his faith”. I think we all know that’s a pretty laughable statement, because The Passion of the Christ made him a very rich man indeed. Who would you side with in this case?