Paramount Sues Over 9/11 Mini-Film

Paramount Pictures is suing a District of Columbia man to stop distribution of an Internet film based on a script by director Oliver Stone.

Yale University graduate Chris Moukarbel, 28, made an abbreviated version of Stone's upcoming $60 million movie "World Trade Center," about two Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officers, Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, rescued from the rubble of the Twin Towers. The 12-minute film — based on a bootleg script and starring Yale student actors — was offered for free through Moukarbel's Web site.

Paramount sued Moukarbel on June 16 in U.S. District Court in Washington, alleging that people will see the student film and confuse it with the Hollywood version, starring Nicolas Cage and Maria Bello. The film is set to open on 1,500 screens in August, backed by a $40 million marketing campaign.

"Large numbers of people will see the Moukarbel film first for free and determine, based on this poor-quality copy, that they do not want to pay to see the remainder of the WTC Film at a theater when it is released," Paramount's lawsuit said.

"He's free to make any World Trade Center movie he wants to make, but not our movie with our script," said Nancy Kirkpatrick, a Paramount spokeswoman.

Moukarbel, who graduated from Yale last month with a master of fine arts degree, could not be located for comment. The film has since been taken off his site, replaced with a note reading, "Video removed at request of Paramount Pictures."

Other Web sites that linked to Moukarbel's movie have removed it, including Filmthreat.com.

However, some who had seen the movie said they liked it.

"It may not be Oliver Stone's version, but it actually was pretty good — better than the trailer that they released themselves," wrote "AuntPeru" on Filmthreat.com.