Harper Lee passed away in 2016, but the author’s estate is suing Aaron Sorkin over his upcoming Broadway production of To Kill a Mockingbird. The complaint claims that The West Wing creator’s adaptation of the iconic novel — which, contrary to popular belief, gives you no insights about killing mockingbirds — deviates from the book, violating an agreement between Lee (who signed the contract eight months before her death) and the producers, including Hollywood power-player Scott Rudin. “The Play shall not derogate or depart in any manner from the spirit of the Novel,” the contract reads, “nor alter its characters.”
A chief dispute in the complaint is the assertion that Mr. Sorkin’s portrayal of the much beloved Atticus Finch, the crusading lawyer who represents a black man unjustly accused of rape, presents him as a man who begins the drama as a naïve apologist for the racial status quo, a depiction at odds with his purely heroic image in the novel. (Via)
“This adaptation by Aaron Sorkin of To Kill a Mockingbird is a faithful adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel, which has been crafted within the constraints of the agreement executed by both Harper Lee and the play’s producers before Ms. Lee’s death,” Rudin said in a statement. “This action undertaken by the estate of Harper Lee is an unfortunate step in a situation where there is simply artistic disagreement over the creation of a play that Ms. Lee herself wanted to see produced, and is the kind of disagreement which one expects would be worked out easily between two parties who have a mutual interest in seeing a work produced.” Lee’s estate lawyer Tonja B. Carter (who compared Sorkin’s Atticus to more of “an edgy sitcom dad in the 21st Century than the iconic Atticus of the novel”) previously expressed “serious concerns about the script.”
To Kill a Mockingbird, which stars The Newsroom‘s Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch, is scheduled to begin previews November 1 and open December 13.
(Via the New York Times)
