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January 28, 2004

I Wrote Ishtar Too!

Madonna and her finally-broke-out-of-the-MTV-like-directing-mode husband Guy Ritchie are being sued:

Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie are to be taken to court by an actor who claims the couple stole the idea for their 2002 film Swept Away.

Vincent D'Onofrio says he pitched the idea to the pair in 1997 - but they cut him out of the credits. The couple say he has no proof of a contract.

This worried me at first, but the article goes on to say that the actor in question is not the relatively well-known Vincent D'Onofrio. No matter who the guy is, why the hell would he want to take any sort of credit for Swept Away, the globally-panned Madonna and her Guy vehicle?

To his credit though, it is interesting that the couple is only saying "he has no proof of a contract." That's not exactly a denial of theft. That's kind of confusing too, because if I was Madonna or Guy, I'd probably look for any opportunity to distance myself from my very own cinematic abortion.