The producers of the independent film “Rockets Redglare!” were awarded $1.75 million dollars in damages by a U.S. District Court in Miami, Florida. According to the court’s order, Mike Broder of Small Planet Pictures, based in Fort Lauderdale, will be liable after he failed to market, promote, and pay advance fees relating to the distribution of “Rockets Redglare!”, a motion picture which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003.
The plaintiffs were late producer-director Luis Fernandez de la Reguera and actor Steve Buscemi, who also produced the film. All rights to the film have been returned to Fernandez de la Reguara’s estate. Mr. Fernandez de la Reguara died in a motorcycle accident in August of 2006.
“This is the day we were looking forward to. We wish Luis could have been alive to share it,” said attorneys Hunter Chamberlin and J. Christopher Robbins, who handled the case.
William Murchu, a producer of “Rockets Redglare!” and longtime friend of Mr. Fernandez de la Reguera, says that he and Mr. Buscemi plan to re-release and redistribute the film. “Steve and I continued Luis’ lawsuit after he passed away because this film is Luis’ legacy and we wanted people to be able to see his work.” “All any of us want is to get this movie out there,” Buscemi stated.
“Rockets Redglare!” is a documentary that chronicles the tragic life of actor Michael Morra a.k.a. Rockets Redglare, who was a gifted actor and performance artist as well as a notorious New York City hustler. In a review of the film, Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times says that “Rockets comes across as brilliant, funny and outrageous as he is self-destructive.” The documentary features interviews with Willem Dafoe, Matt Dillon, Steve Buscemi, and independent film director Jim Jarmusch. The official web site is www.rocketsredglare.tv.
