Martin Scorsese Settles Lawsuit Over Claims He Reneged on Deal to Produce World War II Movie

Winston Cho
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Martin Scorsese and his production company, Sikelia Productions, have settled a lawsuit accusing them of reneging on a $1 million deal to executive produce a World War II movie.

U.K.-based production company Op-Fortitude informed the court on Thursday of a deal to resolve the case. The settlement is contingent on the completion of certain terms to be performed within 45 days. Details of the deal weren’t disclosed.

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Op-Fortitude alleged in a lawsuit filed last year that Scorsese accepted a a $500,000 initial payment to personally assemble an all-star cast for Operation: Fortitude and refused to return the money after doing no work for over a year.

According to the complaint, Op-Fortitude and LBI Entertainment, which represented Scorsese and Sikelia, struck a deal in 2021 for the director to handle casting, production and postproduction. The production company was assured that a meeting with Scorsese would be arranged and that he would “immediately being reaching out personally to potential A-list directors and cast members,” the lawsuit said. It was allegedly understood that the deal with Sikelia was for Scorsese to be directly involved in the movie, and not his managers, since LBI and Op-Fortitude had already entered into a separate deal in 2020 for other services related to the film.

The lawsuit accused LBI of stringing Op-Fortitude along that Scorsese would eventually start working on the film. When the company formally terminated the deal, Scorsese and Sikelia allegedly refused to return its deposit.

“Although more than fifteen months have passed since the Agreement was signed, Mr. Scorsese has not performed any work that falls within any of the three categories of services contemplated by the Agreement—casting, production and post-production,” read the complaint. “Nor has he performed any other type of work on the project.”

The complaint brought a claim for breach of contract, among others, and sought punitive damages. It argued that it lost out on financing due to Scorsese allegedly turning his back on the deal to produce the movie, which explores a “strategic mission that was pivotal to the course of World War II,” according to the complaint.

John Fowler, an attorney for Op-Fortitude, Scorsese and Sikelia Productions, which produced The Wolf of Wall Street, Killers of the Flower Moon and Boardwalk Empire, didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

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