Spider-Man (EPA)
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It may never be greater “just to be nominated” for an award.
While actors and directors usually trot out that old chestnut to hedge their bets against an awards-night loss, for embattled Broadway director Julie Taymor, a “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” Tony nomination could help nail a million-dollar victory.
Taymor — who was driven off the problem-plagued production before it was revamped earlier this year — filed a lawsuit for more than $1 million against the show’s producers yesterday, charging that they’re still using substantial chunks of her work in the hit musical and refusing to pay her for it.
To bolster her case, Taymor’s suit notes that Tony Awards officials ruled just last week that only she would be eligible for a best directing nod for “Spider-Man” in the 2012 Tonys, not the director brought in to revamp her work.
The committee “rejected the producers’ contention that Philip William McKinley had transformed the musical into a ‘new’ production,” the suit says.
The Manhattan federal suit says about a quarter of the new “Spider-Man” is Taymor’s.
“The infringing book copies entire scenes, dialogue blocks, themes, plotlines, narrative arcs, characters and descriptions of stage activity. In total, over 350 lines of dialogue and descriptions of stage activity — nearly one quarter of the infringing book — are copied verbatim from Taymor’s original book,” the suit says.
A person involved in the Tony decision said officials hadn’t been aware Taymor would use their finding for ammo in court, but “the feeling was this is still her show. It’s her design, her staging, her cast and her vision.”
Taymor worked on the show for years before she was shoved out of the production she helped transform into a $75 million, critically reviled mess — and smash box-office hit — earlier this year.
The show was panned as incoherent after it started previews last Nov. 28, and Taymor’s suit says she later learned the producers were scheming to get rid of her by December.
On March 4, she was told she was out.
“Taymor was told . . . that a new creative consultant and a bookwriter were being hired to make changes to Taymor’s work” without her permission, the suit says.
But under her contract, only Taymor had the power to approve changes, the suit says.
The revamped version of the show opened in June and the suit estimates it is pulling in well over $1 million a week.
The suit says the producers are refusing to pay any of the $70,000 they owe her since the show’s hiatus in April.
She is seeking unpaid royalties, plus over $1 million for breach of contract, and a court order that they get her written consent for any traveling productions.
In a statement, the show’s lead producers, Michael Cohl and Jeremiah Harris, said that “we have tried to resolve these issues” since Taymor’s departure in March.
“Fortunately, the court system will provide, once and for all, an opportunity to resolve this dispute. We look forward to a resolution in which everyone is properly compensated for their contribution,” they said.
Additional reporting by Bruce Golding