Amazon denies using AI of actors’ voices in Road House remake
Writer of 1989 original claims Amazon infringed copyright and used AI for actors’ voices | Amazon says allegations about remake, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor, set for March 21 release are ‘categorically false’.
Amazon is being sued over its remake of 1989 film Road House, with allegations that it refused to acknowledge that the copyright had been reclaimed by the screenplay writer and used AI for actors’ voices to beat the deadline of the rights expiring.
On Tuesday (February 27), author R Lance Hill, also known by his Hollywood pen name David Lee Henry, sued Amazon’s MGM Studios and other defendants for copyright infringement in the US Central District of California federal court.
The original Road House film starred Patrick Swayze as Dalton, a bouncer working for a New York club. Amazon’s 2024 remake features Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton and is set for release on Prime Video on March 21.
Feud over rights
Hill said that in 1986, he transferred his copyright to the Road House screenplay to MGM subsidiary United Artists Pictures. The agreement was made with Hill’s wholly-owned loan-out entity Lady Amos Literary Works.
In November 2021, Hill said he availed himself of his right under the Copyright Act to recover the copyright to the screenplay.
This refers to 17 U.S.C. § 203(a) of the Act, which refers to the right to “recapture the copyright to the author’s creative material, after a lengthy waiting period, by statutorily terminating without cause prior transfer(s) of such copyright.
“Termination is carried out by simply serving advance notice of termination on the original grantee or its successors and filing the notice with the US Copyright Office, within delineated time windows.”
According to the complaint, in December 2021, the defendants objected to the termination on the grounds that the screenplay qualified as a “work for hire” for Lady Amos, barring Hill from exercising his right to reclaim the copyright.
Hill disputed this, arguing that the screenplay “did not constitute or qualify in any respect as a ‘work made for hire’”.
‘Resorted to AI’
Furthermore, the writer said that Amazon’s actions “belied” its assertion that the termination was ineffective, alleging that it set November 10, 2023, as the deadline to complete the remake—the day before the copyright termination was due to take effect.
Hill alleged that Amazon adopted “extreme measures” to meet this deadline, including resorting to using AI during the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike in 2023 to replicate the voices of the 2024 remake’s actors.
This violated the collective bargaining agreements of the SAG and Directors Guild of America that Amazon had signed, he said.
Amazon denied the allegations. An MGM Studios spokesperson said in a statement: “The lawsuit filed by R Lance Hill regarding Road House today is completely without merit and numerous allegations are categorically false.
“The film does not use any AI in place of actors’ voices. We look forward to defending ourselves against these claims.”
The case is R Lance Hill v Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Amazon Studios, United Artists Pictures and DOES 1-10. R Lance Hill is represented by Marc Toberoff of Toberoff & Associates.
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