Harper Lee estate sues over Broadway's Mockingbird play
Aaron Sorkin's play slated to begin previews in November, open in December
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday in federal court in Alabamaasks a judge to resolve a contract dispute with producer ScottRudin by giving the estate final say on whether Sorkin's scriptdeparts from the spirit of the 1960 novel or alters itscharacters.
The estate's representative, Tonja B. Carter, alleges thatthe script alters several characters, including protagonistAtticus Finch, who is portrayed as being initially naive toracism.
The script also "did not present a fair depiction of1930s small-town Alabama" by tying it to today's social climate,according to the suit.
Carter said Sorkin, an Oscar winner and the creator ofEmmy-winning TV series including the political drama The WestWing,added two characters to the script and told trademagazine Playbill that the book as written "doesn't work at all"as a play.
Previews to start in November
The play is set to open in preview on Nov. 1 in New York andstars Jeff Daniels as Finch, a lawyer who defends a black managainst a false rape charge in the racially charged 1930s South.Opening night is slated for Dec. 13.
Representatives for Rudin and Sorkin did not immediatelyrespond to a message seeking comment.
The suit alleges Rudin ignored and resisted Carter, and thata February draft of the play "exacerbated her concerns," according to thecomplaint filed in U.S. District Court for theSouthern District of Alabama.
In response, an attorney for Rudin's company, Rudinplay Inc,said in a letter to the estate that the company and not theestate had final say over the script, according to the lawsuit.
Rudin is a major Broadway and Hollywood producer, having wonan Oscar and multiple Tony Awards, often earning honours forrevivals of mid-century American theatre.
Lee died in 2016 at age 89.
To Kill a Mockingbirdwas met with high praise on itspublication, winning the Pulitzer Prize and earning Gregory Peckan Academy Award for best actor in the acclaimed 1962 screenadaptation.
In Lee's only other novel, Go Set a Watchman,published in2015 but written before Mockingbird,Finch is depicted as abigot and racist who opposed desegregation efforts in the UnitedStates.