Myers’ lawsuits settled

Aug 11, 2000 by Ian Evans

For those of you keeping score at home, the Mike Myers/Universal/Imagine lawsuits have now been settled with the help of Dreamworks.

The story so far: Mike Myers said he was unhappy with the script for his movie based on the SNL character Dieter. Universal hit the Canadian comic with a breach-of-contract saying that he had a legal commitment to make the film. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine then sued him for breaching a separate deal with them and their attorney Bert Fields said he couldn’t wait to get Myers in court. Myers then sued back saying that they were trying to force him into making a bad film and that they had a process server chase him and his wife down dark, winding and unlit streets.

At this point the only folks making money were the lawyers.

Enter DreamWorks chiefs Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who helped broker a deal between the three parties. Myers has agreed that his next character-based comedy will be a co-production between DreamWorks and Universal, with Imagine doing the producing. Other terms were not disclosed.

With all the legal ugliness behind them, let’s hope they go back to making us laugh soon.