Rusty Lemorande, a producer who got his big break in the movie business working on Caddyshack, has filed a $6 million lawsuit against A&E and the makers of the documentary Caddyshack: The Inside Story, Pangolin Pictures, claiming they have damaged his reputation by alleging that he acted as a spy during the filming of the 1980 comedy. In the special, Lemorande is shown saying that he realized after being hired that “part of the quid pro quo is that I would be a spy” and that he was being brought on board to “provide Mike [Medavoy, studio executive] with ongoing information as to what was going on.” While neither the documentary or the lawsuit provides any details about the specific targets of Lemorande’s supposed snitching, “what was going on” no doubt refers to the many rumors of wild parties and heavy drug use on set, like the fact that Rodney Dangerfield was essentially a walking pot cloud in checkered pants.
Lemorande claims producers of Caddyshack: The Inside Story left out another key piece of footage, one in which he actually contradicts his statement by saying, “Uh, so…a spy, no. I was never blabbing on anybody, and I found that my report was always…most diplomatic to keep alive what was happening in Florida….[a] what happens in Florida stays in Florida kind of attitude." Even worse, the documentary includes a voiceover that refers to Lemorande as someone who had a “reputation as a drug snitch amongst the cast and crew,” an allegation which Lemorande’s attorney says has subsequently made things difficult for him in the film industry, as “People will not work with a Hollywood producer or writer who they think would rat them out.” Of course, Lemorande’s difficulty finding work could also be that the clear highlights of his writing and producing credits are the computer-love triangle story Electric Dreams and Michael Jackson’s Captain EO. But nah, it was probably that everyone saw this Caddyshack documentary and were like, “Don’t hire Narc-y Lemorande.”