Connery wants £11m for failed film

Actor Sean Connery is suing a Hollywood production company for £11m (€17.4m) over claims it backed out of a film deal.

The 72-year-old alleges that Mandalay Entertainment Group and its chairman, Peter Guber, misled him about their ability to finance End Game, a thriller that he had agreed to star in and produce.

Connery was approached in 1999 about playing a CIA agent in the film, and encouraged to spend “considerable time, effort and money” in developing the project, according to a lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday.

When he began meeting directors in the hope of starting production earlier this year “Mandalay and Guber suddenly refused to cooperate ... and simply cut off all communications,” the suit alleges.

It claims the film company strung Sir Sean along for two years “in an attempt to hold themselves out to the entertainment industry as a viable production company. Mandalay, however, was nothing more than a house of cards“.

The actor is seeking compensatory damages of £11m (€17.4m) plus compensation for “lost opportunities.”

A spokesman for Mandalay told Variety: “We are confident in our position that the claims are frivolous and without any merit.”

Guber has produced several box office hits, including Rain Man, Batman, and Flashdance.