Indie Movie Producer Wonderfilm Sued Over Fraud Claim

Winston Cho
·9 min read
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Indie production shop Wonderfilm has been sued for fraud and breach of contract in a lawsuit accusing the company and its directors of swindling an investor — which was allegedly led to believe it was financing a Mel Gibson-led film only for the project to never get finished due to a lack of funds — out of more than $5 million.

Investor Gridiron Productions alleges fraud in a lawsuit claiming Wonderfilm principals Bret Saxon and Jeff Bowler changed the terms of contracts to pay themselves exorbitant salaries on top of exaggerating the budget for the movie, with the goal of making it for less and pocketing the difference.

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The lawsuit filed on Sept. 12 in California federal court mirrors claims made in other legal actions against Saxon. According to a review of court records by The Hollywood Reporter, he was named in 2011 in a series of complaints accusing him of operating a “ponzi scheme,” as one lawsuit alleged, in which he would “solicit funds from various investors for entertainment projects which either did not exist or which would be produced for the fraction of the funds raised” by Saxon, who kept the remaining balance to finance an alleged “luxury lifestyle.” (At the center of that alleged fraud was an announcement from Saxon’s Insomnia Media Group in 2007 that it had received a $550 million investment from Egypt-based asset management and brokerage firm Borak Holding. Borak sued Saxon, alleging the claim was a lie aimed at “enhanc[ing] their reputation in the entertainment industry.”)

Saxon in 2021 was stripped of his license to practice law for allegedly scamming investor Jon Yarbrough, who was told that Insomnia Media had the backing of Borak, out of $1.5 million to finance a movie called Fandango, according to court filings. A judge for the California state bar recommended that Saxon be disbarred for the “intentional and dishonest misappropriation of the investor’s funds.”

Named in the complaint filed by Gridiron are production companies allegedly operated by Saxon and Bowler accused of facilitating the fraud — Epic Journey Productions, Pickle Wagon Holdings, March on Productions and BOS Entertainment. Also named are shell companies allegedly operating in furtherance of the scheme — Wonderfilm, Wonder Capital and Lucky Owl Films, according to the lawsuit.

Wonderfilm has produced titles like Nicolas Cage-starrer Primal, Frank Grillo sports drama Lamborghini, White Elephant, starring Bruce Willis and John Malkovich, and Hard Matter, featuring Harvey Keitel. Before the company was formed in 2021, Saxon and Bowler were credited as producers on Woody Harrelson-starrer The Grand, animated feature Sky Force and Shirley MacLaine movie Wild Oats, among other titles.

John Schlaff, a lawyer for Wonderfilm’s Saxon and Bowler, in a statement called the allegations “intentionally and provably false.” He added, “Gridiron’s sole owner and manager, Latavius Powell, who invested his client’s monies in the film, was also the highest-paid executive producer on the ‘Hard Matter‘ film project and he and his agents were apprised of every fact which he now falsely contends were hidden from him. He and others operating under his control were responsible for problems with the film’s production which he now seeks to blame on others in order to avoid blow-back from his own investors and from the Defendants — some of whom have also suffered severe injury as a result of Mr. Powell’s misconduct.”

Gridiron, a Georgia-based videography service specializing in sports media that used to operate as Price Productions, says it agreed in Sept. 2021 to invest roughly $5 million to finance Hard Matter. Powell, the owner of the company, was told by Saxon and Bowler that Mel Gibson “loved the script” and that he was “onboard” to star in the movie — set in a dystopian future in which a corporation forces criminals to fight one another for freedom — for $3 million, the complaint says. (A representative for Gibson’s agency, IAG, confirms that the actor did receive an offer to star in the film.) At the time, however, Gibson had already committed to another movie set to start shooting in New Mexico on Nov. 2021, when Powell was told Hard Matter would start filming, according to the lawsuit, which calls Saxon and Bowell “seasoned con-artists in the movie business.”

After production was delayed to the first quarter of 2022, Gridiron claims the defendants “siphoned money” out of the Hard Matter budget to “enrich themselves while diminishing the value and quality” of the project. This was primarily done by entering into allegedly fraudulent agreements with various loan-out companies for producing services, the lawsuit alleges. Saxon and Bowler were paid $500,000 and $450,000 respectively. Other deals included payments to Lucky Owl’s Nina Podolsk — allegedly Bowler’s girlfriend — for $450,000 and March on Production’s Richard Salvatore for $200,000. While Powell was listed as an executive producer, his payment was credited to the film and not directly to him, according to the complaint.

Podolsk and Salvatore didn’t respond to requests for comment.

As changes to the contract were allegedly being made, the lawsuit claims that Saxon and Bowler continued to “string Price Production along” by telling the company they were nearing deals with John Travolta, Nicolas Cage or Gary Oldman to replace Mel Gibson. Powell was allegedly told in Jan. 2022 that Harvey Kietel, Tyrese Gibson, Ray Stevenson and Frank Grillo would star in the movie. Gridiron argues that it only agreed to finance the movie if Mel Gibson starred.

Production of Hard Matter started on March 2022, according to the complaint. Around that time, the agreement was altered so that Gridiron was stripped of “all creative, artistic and business decisions relating to the development, production, distribution and other exploitation of the Film,” the lawsuit alleges. Wonderfilm Hard Matter, an entity created to produce the film, also made changes to provide for a different distribution of proceeds than previously agreed upon by “subordinating Gridiron’s right to receive proceeds for the Film and recapture the initial investment,” giving defendants “complete control over the production and sale” of the movie.” Other amendments included priority in payment of residuals and an “unheard of 20 year term with a five year option and exclusive rights for any future sequel,” according to the complaint.

Gridiron owner Powell was allegedly told the movie would screen for buyers in Nov. 2022. But after investigating the original budget and looking for documentation of the expenses for production work, he claims he discovered that several of the originally budgeted line-items for cast, assistant directors, production assistants, wardrobe, cast and makeup, among other things, were reduced in price. For example, Kietel’s deal was only for $500,000 rather than $1.75 million, as Saxon allegedly represented. In total, Saxon underreported compensation to actors by at least $2.2 million, the complaint claims.

“The differences between the budgeted expenses and the actual expenses were pocketed by Defendants,” writes Joseph Kar, a lawyer for Gridiron, in the complaint.

Gridiron accuses Wonderfilm of tanking the prospects for obtaining distribution for Hard Matter by “secretly taking so much money out of the film,” pointing to vendors refusing to complete sound and visual effects work due to outstanding invoices. VFX company Tunnel Post has refused to turn over the movie until it’s paid $35,000. The defendants are unable to pay the balance but have offered to repay it on the back end, which Powell has refused, according to the lawsuit. Bowler tells THR that the film is “sitting idle” at the end of post-production, roughly two weeks away from delivery, until Powell authorizes the payment.

Lionsgate has offered domestic distribution for $500,000, according to the complaint.

Saxon has been named in multiple other complaints, filed from 2009 to 2011, from investors who describe a similar method of fraud over their investments in movies produced by companies under Saxon’s control, which have included IMG Film and Insomnia Media. They revolve around claims that Saxon used funds from new investors to repay old investments.

A Tennessee arbitrator in 2010 ordered Saxon to pay $2.25 million for fraud and breach of contract in the lawsuit from Yarbrough. He was accused of misappropriating at least $170,000 of a $1.5 million investment to finance a movie called Fandango for personal expenses. Saxon filed for bankruptcy amid the proceedings “in an effort to have his $2.25 million debt owed” to Yarbrough discharged, which was rejected, according to the California state bar court judge’s order.

Fandango was one of at least five movies Saxon was alleged to have used to solicit investments. Scott Barbour, an employee of Transactional Marketing Partners — which Saxon allegedly owned and operated — sued the producer in 2011 for fraud, breach of contract  and a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. He alleged that investments to Insomnia Media were “used by Saxon for his personal use” and that Saxon’s various “business entities are mere shells or instrumentalities.” Included in the lawsuit were allegations that he stole funds from the Palmer House Orphanage, which invested $750,000 for a film that Saxon said would be based on the organization that was never made, and Barry Minkow, who was convicted for operating a ponzi scheme and led to believe that Saxon was producing a biopic about him. Minkow in 2018 was credited as a producer for Con Man, which was made under Saxon’s Insomnia Media banner. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge in 2012 dismissed the case.

Saxon has also been accused by Yarbrough and producer Steven Zellers in separate lawsuits of promising his profits from Harrelson comedy The Grand to pay investors accusing him of misappropriating their funds, according to court documents.

Other projects Saxon has been sued over include A Fine Step, an independently-financed film starring Luke Perry, and a movie that he said Robert De Niro would produce, according to court documents. Moving for dismissal, he said in the cases that the claims are barred by the statute of limitations, among other arguments. The lawsuits were dismissed in 2012, a year after the case initiated by Borak was dismissed.

Saxon did not respond to requests for comment on the prior litigation.

This April, Wonderfilm was attached to a biopic of fitness personality and television icon Jack LaLanne in a project in partnership with Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas.

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