Terrence Howard has consistently graced the big and small screen throughout his decades-long career. But in a first for Howard, he’s now getting his legal team involved in his latest acting role due to the release of an upcoming film. According to TMZ, a signed cease and desist letter by his attorney alleged that producers of his latest film, Triumph, used his image and likeness without his consent and that they never made good on their “monetary promises.”
The film stars RJ Mitter of Breaking Bad fame, who plays a high school wrestler with cerebral palsy, while Howard plays a wrestling coach. TMZ reported that Howard’s overall involvement in Triumph was “conditioned upon the satisfaction of material monetary and non-monetary promises made by the producers– which never happened.”
Also, according to TMZ, producers acknowledged before the film’s April release that Howard had not given his consent and that the movie would be on hold until they got a signed release from the actor. It was released theatrically on April 30 despite that.
Howard, 52, is featured throughout the film’s trailers and promos. The cease and desist letter was originally sent out to Digital Ignition Entertainment, Argonaut Entertainment Partners and other production companies that worked on Triumph.
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Completely ignoring the actor’s claims about not giving his consent, Digital Ignition instead told TMZ about the company’s inclusive work on the film, saying, “The producers made this film with a mission to help advance awareness of cerebral palsy and to do our part to promote inclusion in film. We couldn’t be more proud of the job our cast and crew did to highlight the remarkable accomplishments of the writer of the film….”
TMZ also reports that Howard’s letter threatened Argonaut with legal action if they continue using him in their “distribution, advertising, promotion, and/or exhibition of Triumph in any manner.”
Howard has not spoken publicly on the matter.
