Terms of out-of-court agreement not disclosed
Gregg Allman agreed Tuesday to drop his lawsuit against movie producers who were making a film about the singer's life when a freight train plowed into their Georgia crew and killed a camera assistant.
Attorneys for the Allman Brothers Band singer and Unclaimed Freight Productions told a Savannah judge Tuesday they reached an out-of-court agreement a day after Allman's lawyer grilled film director Randall Miller on the witness stand about the Feb. 20 crash. Attorneys declined to discuss details of the deal, including whether Miller would be able to move forward with reviving the "Midnight Rider" movie.
"We have come together and reasoned with one another," Allman attorney David Long-Daniels told the judge. He declined to comment further outside of court, as did Miller's attorney, Donnie Dixon.
Allman filed suit against the film producers April 28 in Chatham County Superior Court, saying their rights to his life story had lapsed because they failed to meet production deadlines. Long-Daniels said Allman wanted Miller and his production company off the project because the train crash had harmed the singer's reputation.
Investigators say Miller, his crew and actor William Hurt, who was to star as Allman, were shooting on a railroad bridge spanning the Altamaha River when a train came upon them at 55 mph. The train crashed through a bed set on the tracks as a prop and struck and killed 28-year-old camera assistant Sarah Jones, whose family is from West Columbia, South Carolina. Others were injured either by the train or flying debris. Sheriff's investigators in Wayne County, southwest of Savannah, said the crew did not have a permit from CSX Railroad, which owns the tracks. Local prosecutors are still weighing whether to file criminal charges.
Allman, who had a liver transplant in 2010 and canceled performances in March because of illness, wasn't in court Monday or Tuesday. His attorney told the judge the 66-year-old singer remains in poor health.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More