Emma Thompson Sues to Protect 'Effie' Film

According to the NY Post, Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson is asking a federal court to protect her from a copyright dispute with playwright Gregory Murphy over her screenplay "Effie." The screenplay is about the scandalous marriage of Victorian-era critic John Ruskin and his young wife, Effie Gray.

Murphy wrote the off-Broadway hit THE COUNTESS based on Ruskin. THE COUANTESS ran for 600 performances until 2000 and now says that Thompson's screenplay, "Effie," is based on his drama. He claims he mailed her and husband Greg Wise a copy to see if either would take a role in a West End staging and a planned movie version.

Thompson is now asking New York's Southern District to find that "Effie," which will star herself, Wise and Orlando Bloom, is not based on Murphy's play. According to her filing, she needs this ruling in order to secure funding for her movie which is set to start production in August.

The filing reads: "In creating 'Effie,' MS. Thompson neither had access to, nor copied from any version of 'The Countess.' Rather, she applied her own creative imagination to well-known facts of history and biography and produced a strikingly original screenplay." It asks the court to find that her screenplay "does not infringe any copyright which Murphy may claim."

But Murphy told the NY Post that the script "follows the exact time frame, has an identical tone and contains plot elements and character developments directly traceable to 'The Countess.' I met with Emma to try and resolve the situation. She claims she never saw the screenplay I sent through a mutual friend. I tried to settle it without going to court, but they contradict themselves constantly."

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