Two moviegoers are suing Universal Pictures, claiming they were duped into renting a movie because their favorite actress was in the trailer, only to find out she didn’t do the final cut of the film.
Michael Rosza of California and Conor Woulfe of Maryland watched the trailer for Yesterday, which featured Ana de Armas.
They concluded that de Armas had therefore played a part in the film, so they paid $3.99 (£2.94) to rent it.
But when they watched it, they discovered that de Armas – who was initially introduced as a lover of the main character played by Himesh Patel – did not appear at all.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Rosza and Mr. Woulfe are suing Universal in a proposed class action lawsuit and filed their suit in California federal court last Friday.
They are seeking at least $5m (£3.7m) on behalf of California and Maryland residents who paid to watch Yesterday.
In the complaint, they said: “Although the defendant (Universal) included the scenes with Ms. de Armas in the trailer advertisements for the film, for the purpose of promoting Yesterday and inducing sales and rentals of films, Mrs. de Armas is not, and has never been, a publicly-released version of the film.
“Unable to rely on the fame of the actors playing (the main character) Jack Malik or Ellie to maximize ticket and movie sales and rentals, the defendant consequently used the fame, brilliance and brilliance of Ms. de Armas to promote the film by including his scenes in trailers for the film’s publicity yesterday,” the lawsuit reads.
Universal hasn’t commented, but the film’s writer Richard Curtis said in 2019 that de Armas’ character Roxanne was cut because she overshadowed the romance between Patel’s character and a girl. other woman.
He described it as a “very traumatic cut”, adding that she had been “brilliant” and “radiant” in the role.
