LOS ANGELES (CN) - A documentary filmmaker has sued comedian Chris Rock for $5 million in Federal Court, claiming his upcoming movie about the politics of black hair is a copycat version of the documentary she made three years ago.
Regina Kimball says she has shown her movie, "My Nappy Roots," at various film festivals and universities, where she is respected as an "authority on the history and social dynamics of Black hair issues." Kimball says she finished her movie in early 2006, but has never released it for commercial audiences.
Rock's movie, "Good Hair," is scheduled to arrive in theaters on Friday.
Kimball claims "Good Hair" producer Doug Miller asked for a private screening of "My Nappy Roots" in 2007, calling himself Rock's "assistant" and hiding the fact that Rock was in the middle of working on his own movie on the same subject. Kimball says she agreed, on the condition that Miller sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Kimball says she met Rock at Paramount Studios in Hollywood to show her movie. "Good Hair" writers Chuck Sklar and Lance Crouther attended the screening with Miller and Rock, but Kimball says she didn't find out about the movie or its makers until later.
One scene in "My Nappy Roots" deals with the hair export business in India that supplies the majority of the hair used for weaves. During that scene, Kimball claims Rock pointed at the screen and yelled, "We have to go to India!"
When the movie was over, Rock admitted that he was working on "a little film" for HBO about black hair and "didn't know what to do," the lawsuit says.
Kimball says she was "stunned" and "felt violated" to find out about the alleged pretext for the screening.
After the screening, Kimball claims Miller and Rock refused to sign the nondisclosure agreement.
"Good Hair" copies coverage from "My Nappy Roots" about the "story of the weave," Kimball says, using similar footage from India, the leading exporter of human hair, to depict the Tonsure ceremony at India's Temple Tirumala Tirupati. Both movies also include coverage of the controversy over who invented Jheri Curl, the toxicity of the chemicals used in hair relaxing treatments, and celebrity interviews, the lawsuit states.
Kimball and Rock both claim they were inspired to make their movies by their daughters' questions about their own hair.
Reginald Brown is representing Regina Kimball and her company, Virgin Moon Entertainment, in her lawsuit against Rock, Chris Rock Enterprises, HBO Films, Roadside Attractions and Liddell Entertainment in Los Angeles Federal Court.
Download Chris Rock's Lawsuit Papers
[Source]
@Darling Cancerian
Umm Kinky means tightly curled! I do agree with you on nappy but not kinky.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kinky
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kinky
Posted by: chi | November 27, 2010 at 10:57 PM
i think that she has a case. It would have been different if he had never met her or seen her documentary but why show them the film without signing the non-disclosure first? she must have had stars in her eyes... 5million is nothing compared with what Chris Rock will make on it, so I hope she has a good lawyer, or some other artistic work that can carry her through.. Its sad though..
Posted by: lina40 | October 16, 2009 at 02:41 PM
Well, get your money girl! I aint mad at it. As an artist myself I know if I eva caught someone making millions off of my hard work I would be on that azz too.
As a writer,when I put my life into a project and someone with a name swipes it up and puts it out there as their own I support fighting to the death for what is yours. Shoot a sista only got so many books in her, I can't let so and so get my props :O) and if they do... I'am sue! Whoop whoop!
BIA No Mo
Posted by: BIA No Mo | October 08, 2009 at 10:55 AM
I would actually like to watch "My Nappy Roots" instead of "Good Hair" because it seems to go more in depth instead of Good Hair being more aboute weaves and relaxers
Posted by: Aiyo | October 07, 2009 at 10:34 PM
I just wish that this nappy word and kinky word would go away! Our hair is "coily!" The other people don't refer to their hair as what it would be if it were not taken care of, which is the word "tangley" so why in the heck should we refer to OUR "Cooooiiilllyyy" hair as what it would be if it were not well taken care of, which is those other two words unworthy of mentioning (kinky and nappy)?
Don't even answer that, just agree with me, because I am too through.
Posted by: Darling Cancerian | October 07, 2009 at 05:07 PM
That is SO low of her. That's like the person who created the english language rising from the dead, just to sue everyone who has ever written a book! lol
"Hey! I made up those words!!!"
Grow the heck up and be glad that Black Hollywood is on the rise, lady.
Posted by: Darling Cancerian | October 07, 2009 at 04:42 PM
Interesting.
Posted by: Ebony Intuition | October 07, 2009 at 04:19 PM