ROB SCHNEIDER - ACTORS IN ROW OVER CHUCK AND LARRY PLAGIARISM CHARGE

ACTORS IN ROW OVER CHUCK AND LARRY PLAGIARISM CHARGE

Australian actor Michael Caton says he was only making a "tongue in cheek" remark when he suggested that comedian Rob Schneider may have helped Adam Sandler plagiarize the Australian film Strange Bedfellows for Sandler's I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Both films are about two firefighters who pretend to be homosexuals in order to take advantage of tax benefits for gay couples. Caton, who co-starred in Bedfellows with Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan, had told a recent news conference that he had given a copy of the movie to Schneider, who appears as an Asian minister in Larry. Caton appeared with Schneider in the 2001 film The Animal. Schneider responded by taking out an ad in the Sydney Morning Herald saying, "I am very flattered that you think that I am the one who chooses the films of Adam Sandler (currently the highest paid actor in the world). ... It is true you gave me a DVD copy of Strange Bedfellows, but I must confess I've never watched it, as it is not on the same format as I have." Caton responded today (Tuesday) that he hadn't brought up the matter -- reporters had. In a statement to the Herald, Caton added that he was only kidding when he said that he had emailed Schneider a message saying that if the reports about similarities between the two films are true, "tell Adam Sandler [that he] owes me one." He added that he has not seen Chuck and Larry. Nevertheless, the Herald reported that Shana Levine, one of the Bedfellows producers, is considering filing a copyright-infringement suit against the Chuck and Larry producers.

28/08/2007