Science journalist Paul Brodeur claims the Oscar-nominated film “American Hustle” got it all wrong.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Brodeur is suing Columbia Pictures, Atlas Entertainment and Annapurna Pictures—the companies that produced and distributed the film—for libel, defamation, slander and false light over a 60-second scene involving talk of a microwave in which he is attributed a “scientifically unsupportable statement.”
He also claims his reputation was damaged.
The scene stars Jennifer Lawrence as Roslyn Rosenfield, who tells her husband, Irving Rosenfield played by Christian Bale, that microwaves “take all of the nutrition” out of food. After the “science oven” catches fire, Rosalyn says she got the information from an article written by Brodeur.
He’s seeking $1 million in damages.
THR reports that Brodeur was a science journalist with The New Yorker for almost 40 years. In 1977, he released a book on the dangers of microwave radiation called “The Zapping of America.” But according to his suit, he never claimed microwaves depleted food of its nutrition.
Brodeur, who filed the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday said, “The scene from the movie ‘American Hustle’ where the defamatory statement was made is highly offensive to a reasonable person.”
It’s unclear how the lawsuit will play out due to the film’s ambiguous non-fiction storyline. The opening credits read, “Some of this actually happened.”