Get It While You Can, the forthcoming biopic of Janis Joplin, has hit yet another snag that threatens to turn it into a disaster of Jackie Jormp-Jomp-sized proportions. The latest roadblock has been erected by none other than the film’s own producers, LKL Productions and Switzerland-based Silver Reel. According to a complaint filed on Wednesday, the companies optioned the rights to the script for Get It While You Can for $117,000 back in 2014. Allegedly, writer Ron Terry has since shopped the script around to other producers in violation of the option agreement, and the companies are none too pleased.
LKL and Silver Reel also sued an investment company called Chesterton Capital, which had previously loaned Terry $1.7 million. The option agreement was contingent on those loans being restructured; LKL and Silver Reel tried to comply, but Chesterton refused to negotiate its demand that it be paid 235 percent interest on the loans. As that seemed a little high, LKL and Silver Reel accused Chesterton of “holding the Screenplay and Picture hostage unless outrageous sums are paid.”
The option agreement is scheduled to expire at the end of March, but LKL and Silver Reel have asked the judge to extend it until the matter is resolved. Until that happens, it’s unclear whether the movie, which may or may not eventually star Amy Adams as the hippie rocker, will start production.
This isn’t the first time the Get It While You Can has run into trouble. At various points in time, it was going to be helmed by the likes of City Of God’s Fernando Meirelles, The Butler’s Lee Daniels, and finally Dallas Buyers Club’s Jean-Marc Vallee, who’s probably getting an idea of why those other guys passed on it.