MGM Sues Jake “Raging Bull” LaMotta Over Scorsese-Less Sequel

Boxing legend Jake “Raging Bull” LaMotta is being sued by MGM studios over sequel rights.

The boxing icon, who was portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the 1980 Martin Scorsese classic Raging Bull, faces a lawsuit from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after he went ahead and green-lit a sequel to the 1980 film without their permission, according to TMZ. MGM says that it had already secured the rights to any Raging Bull sequel material, including the rights to produce a movie based on a 1986 tome aptly titled Raging Bull 2 co-penned by LaMotta himself. LaMotta could take the reins of a sequel away from MGM, but only if the studio allowed him to.

According to the lawsuit filed in L.A. County Superior Court, 91-year-old LaMotta went behind the backs of the studio in order to produce a ham-fisted, low-quality and low-budget sequel to the Scorsese classic; one that is so bad, it threatens the “integrity and value” of the original film. MGM is asking for damages and they want the court to block production on the sequel, notes hollywood.com.

Raging Bull 2 is currently filming in Los Angeles. The film stars William Forsythe as an older LaMotta and Mojean Aria as the “Raging Bull” when he was a young man.

Other than that, not much is really known about the movie, except that it’s not directed by Martin Scorsese. Some guy named Martin Guigui who is highlighted “red” instead of “blue” on Wikipedia, indicating that he doesn’t have enough career behind him to get his own page.

What do you think of the Raging Bull 2 sequel?