As his advisers warned of a disastrous third wave, Doug Ford was settling a $10-million lawsuit over a movie about his late brother
On the afternoon of Feb. 11, the day Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table gave a sobering presentation to the public about the rise of variants of concern in the province and the threat of a disastrous third wave, Ontario Premier Doug Ford logged into a Zoom mediation to fight for his late brother's reputation.
The subject of that mediation was a statement of claim the premier filed in April 2020, as the executor of former mayor Rob Ford's estate, against various makers of the 2019 film Run This Town": a Toronto city hall themed drama written and directed by Ricky Tollman, in which Homeland" star Damian Lewis plays the role of Mayor Ford in heavy prosthetic makeup.
According to the claim, which was settled in February's mediation, the estate of Robert Ford sought damages in the sum of $10 million for misappropriation of personality and breach of privacy for publicly placing the plaintiff in a false light."
The film, a fictional retelling of the 2013 crack scandal involving Rob Ford, follows the professional and personal lives of struggling millennials in Toronto, among them a journalist and a handful of city hall staffers. However, it was the film's portrayal of Mayor Ford as abusive and full of rage that his brother took issue with.
The lawsuit claimed the defendants have used the likeness and persona of the late Robert Ford in the fictional drama movie for the sole purposes of gaining a pure financial benefit therefrom, at the expense of the Estate of Robert Ford, and with reckless disregard to the harm such portrayal would inflict on the beneficiaries under the estate, who include two minor-aged children."
The plaintiff argued that Tollman and other named parties involved with the film sought to portray the late Robert Ford as a caricature and a #MeToo monster," as well as exploited the likeness and persona of the late Robert Ford to gain publicity and notoriety for their fictional portrayal without authorization, and misappropriated Robert Ford's likeness and persona without paying the plaintiff and/or the Ford Family any compensation whatsoever."
According to the claim, in 2018, the plaintiff's counsel emailed the film's production requesting information about the movie, including a copy of the script so that it could be reviewed by the plaintiff and the Ford family."
That request went unanswered.
When reached for comment, Run This Town" writer and director Ricky Tollman said he and his colleagues were advised not to respond" to the 2018 email from the plaintiff's counsel, because that's not standard practice in the film industry or in any creative industry where people create things about real life or fictional characters."
With regards to the Ford family itself, Tollman said he feels badly for anyone's children who have to live with the legacy of a parent who they can Google and see information about them that is unbecoming. But if you Google Rob Ford' there's nothing in the movie that you wouldn't see online. In fact, there's far more damning information online that isn't included in the movie."
Ford captured international headlines for being caught on video smoking what appeared to be crack cocaine in 2013 and was the subject of a Toronto police probe stemming from a guns and gang investigation.
Staff members, in police interviews detailed in a search warrant document released by the courts, described Ford's substance abuse, including drinking at work and driving staff members while drunk, his berating and abusing of staff members, and several racist, homophobic and sexist comments.
Under public pressure, Ford sought treatment at a rehab facility north of the city before nominating himself to run again for mayor in 2014.
Following a cancer diagnosis, Ford dropped out of the mayor's race to be replaced by his brother Doug - who lost to John Tory. Rob Ford was elected in his old Etobicoke North seat where he served as a councillor until his death in 2016. He was 46.
Run This Town," while highly stylized and significantly fictionalized, draws on real-life events, including Rob Ford's time as a high school football coach, the burden placed on junior staff to run the office, their harassment by Ford including allegations he once declared I banged your pussy" to a female aide, and the existence of a crack video.
In a mediation brief filed by the defence, lawyers for Tollman and others said the lawsuit is a dressed up defamation claim in a transparent attempt to circumvent the legislative prohibition against an estate suing for defamation. As a public figure, Mayor Ford was afforded a narrow ambit of protection. The film does not trade on Mayor Ford's reputation and certainly does not put him in a false light. Unfortunate facts are still facts."
To say that we used Rob as the main marketing tool is factually incorrect," said Tollman. The three faces you see on the (film) poster are Mena Massoud, Ben Platt and Nina Dobrev, and the eyes of Damian Lewis in prosthetics."
Tollman said he was surprised when the claim was issued, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. It was frustrating and sort of confusing because it happened quite some time after this film was released," he said. It was just surprising that four or five or six weeks into the pandemic that this was how time was being spent."
In a statement shared with the Star last week, Ivana Yelich, the premier's director of media relations, said, Since the start of this pandemic, the premier has spent nearly every waking hour focused on Ontario's response to COVID-19, including hundreds of hours making phone calls, participating in briefings and meetings, and holding over 250 media availabilities with the press. Any insinuation that the premier's focus hasn't been on this pandemic is patently false."
Emma Teitel is a Toronto-based city columnist for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @emmaroseteitel
Jennifer Pagliaro is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @jpags