Angelina Jolie directing In the Land of Blood and Honey.
Jolie starred, wrote and and directed In the Land of Milk and Honey. She claims she came up with the concept for the film while working as a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador.
Journalist and writer James J. Braddock, who is based in Zagreb, claimed the movie she wrote and directed lifts much of its plot line from his book The Soul Shattering when he sued Jolie, GK Films and distributor Film District for copyright infringement last December.
In a 13-page response to the suit obtained by The Wrap, Jolie and her co-defendants denied: “the protectible elements of the Motion Picture and the book entitled The Soul Shattering (‘Subject Work’) are legally or substantially similar under controlling Ninth Circuit law.”
Braddock, whose real name is Josip Knežević, claimed in the original 2011 filing he met with Jolie’s producer Eric Sarkic in 2007 to discuss adapting The Soul Shattering into a film.
He learned later that Sarkic was producing Jolie’s movie before filing the suit.
The defense attorneys admitted in the statement there are similarities between the book and the film, given Jolie’s character – the main female protagonist – serves as a servant in a building controlled by the Serbian army. Unlike the character in Braddock’s book, though, Jolie’s character was not raped by soldiers and officers.
