An Irish-American law firm retained as production counsel for hit movie Borat is expected to defend the film’s makers against a $30 million legal suit filed by two Romanian villagers.
They claim they were lured into appearing in the film under false pretences.
The Manhattan firm of Smith Dornan Dehn came to prominence when it was retained by Sean McPhilemy, the author of The Committee, a contentious book about loyalist violence in the North to defend him against libel claims. More recently, it has represented former INLA member Malachy McAllister in his fight to avoid deportation from the US.
The law firm will turn its attention to Borat. Two men from the Romanian village of Glod are seeking an injunction preventing further screenings of the movie and punitive damages.
In a suit filed in New York on November 20, Nicolae Todorache and Spiridon Ciorebea claimed that they were led to believe they were participating in a documentary about extreme poverty in Romania. In fact, they ended up playing the roles of natives of a primitive village in Kazakhstan in the movie. Todorache is shown wearing what appears to be a sex toy as a prosthetic limb.
