Game of Thrones star Lena Headey is being sued for $1.5 million by her former UK agency Troika for unpaid commission fees related to a number of projects, including the upcoming film Thor: Love and thunder.
Troika, who was renamed YMU in 2020, claims that Headey owes the agency at least $500,000 — equivalent to 7% of her fee — for her credits to the Marvel film.
Variety can confirm that Headey will not appear in the final version of Thor: Love and Thunderwhich stars Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. The film will premiere next week.
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Representatives from Headey and Marvel did not respond to: Varieties requests for comment by publishing time.
According to court documents, Headey joined Troika in 2005 after following her personal representative, Michael Duff, there from his previous firm Lou Coulson Associates.
Duff co-founded Troika, which merged with the James Grant Group in 2017. In 2018, the agency was acquired by a private equity firm and renamed YMU.
Duff left Troika/YMU in early 2020 and Headey left the agency in May of that year.
However, Troika/YMU claim that under the terms of their agreement, Headey still owes brokerage fees for a number of projects, including Thor: Love and Thunder as well as at least $300,000 on the film 9 bulletsin which Headey starred alongside Sam Worthington, and $650,000 for Showtime drama series Ritaan adaptation of a Danish series of the same name.
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Headey was supposed to play the titular Rita character, but the show didn’t get a series order after the pilot episode.
Troika is demanding an invoice for the commission fees owed, an injunction for Headey to pay the fees, damages for breach of contract, interest and legal fees.
In her defense, Headey claims that she never signed a contract with Troika or Duff, and that both parties acted on the basis of a verbal agreement made while Duff was still with Lou Carl Associates in the late 1990s.
Her records also indicate that Troika was never Headey’s sole agent as she is also represented by CAA in the US
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More specifically, Headey disputes that Troika has any claim to commission on: Thor: Love and Thunder – which, he says, came about after director Taika Waititi approached her directly – or 9 bulletsneither of which were negotiated by Troika or Duff.
meanwhile on RitaHeadey says she only received $325,000 for the pilot episode, of which Troika has already received $22,750, and that “no further episodes are planned.”
A YMU representative has not replied to Variety by press time. Lawyers for Headey and YMU also failed to respond in time.
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