Entertainment: Starting as a Succubus, Taking Hollywood by Storm Chapter 842 - 821: Lawsuits and Meeting the Parents

The 82nd Academy Awards were held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. The event was broadcast live by ABC.

Catherine Bigelow's The Hurt Locker and Martin's Joker erged as the biggest nominees of the year. The Hurt Locker earned nine nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Score. Joker also secured nine nominations, such as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Sound Effects.

Martin didn't mind too much, though, since The Hurt Locker was backed by yers Pictures. On paper, it was a guaranteed loss—and reality bore that out. The film, a sanctimonious Arican production glorifying its invasion of other countries, was unpopular not just abroad but also in the U.S. It lacked the heroic figures audiences craved, the grand explosions of a blockbuster, or gritty, visceral battle scenes. In truth, its real purpose seed to be docunting the sweaty, miserable living conditions of Arican soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Martin had a sneaking suspicion: The Hurt Locker might just be Catherine Bigelow's love letter to her ex-husband, Jas Caron. Yes, Bigelow and Caron had been married, divorced, and sohow remained good friends. Caron's knack for staying chummy with all his ex-wives was sothing else.

Plenty of Arican soldiers, or their families, bought The Hurt Locker on VHS or DVD. In the end, it clinched Best Picture and Best Director, while Joker took ho Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. Natalie Portman also won Best Actress for Black Swan. As for the box office juggernaut Avatar, it only snagged a few technical awards.

During her acceptance speech, Catherine Bigelow made a point to thank Martin for his financial support of the film.

But on April 1st, a bombshell dropped. When the news first broke, many thought it was an April Fool's prank. It wasn't until Jas Caron responded that people realized it was real.

Artist Roger Dean, a 1968 graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, filed a lawsuit claiming that many of Avatar's set designs were "deliberate, planned plagiarism, extensively exploited for promotion and profit." Known for his paintings and sculptures, Dean created imaginative works that resonated widely, often featuring floating islands and elegant, towering arches. He pointed out that Avatar's "Tree of Life" and Na'vi designs bore striking similarities to his works like Pathways and Floating Jungle. "These visuals are nearly identical to my art, blatantly and consistently so, ruling out re coincidence," he argued.

The legal troubles didn't stop there. On April 9th, Maryland-based sci-fi writer and screenwriter Bryant Moore sued Jas Caron, 20th Century Fox, and yers Pictures, alleging Avatar's script plagiarized two of his own. On April 11th, another screenwriter, Eric Ryder, also filed a lawsuit against Caron and the Avatar team.

Caron was swamped, rushing to courtrooms across four locations, so even overseas. Martin, on the other hand, was quietly thrilled. Not out of schadenfreude, but because he saw the lawsuits as free publicity for the film. In the end, all the lawsuits were resolved in favor of Caron and the Avatar team.

While Caron was busy dodging legal battles, Martin was at ho, playing with his son and enjoying a rare visit from his family.

...

In a blue-painted villa on a farm in the Los Angeles suburbs, things were less relaxed.

"Hey, old man, can't you get your butt off the couch and lend a hand?" Kelly Fendley, drenched in sweat, snapped at her husband lounging on the sofa.

"That's what ticks off," her husband, Bill Fendley, grumbled. "Isn't it enough that I'm giving away my daughter? Now I've gotta roll out the red carpet to make him happy?"

"It's called courtesy, not sucking up! Are you getting up to help or not?" Kelly issued her ultimatum.

"Fine, fine, I'm up, alright? Geez, that little punk hasn't even shown his face yet, and he's already putting in my place!" Bill muttered under his breath.