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It was a true story beyond imagination: the body of King Richard III of England, who had been missing for centuries, was found under a parking lot after a search led by amateur detectives.
Now a film about this saga has been accused of stretching the truth too far.
The producers of “The Lost King” agreed Monday to pay damages to an academic who sued him for defamation over his on-screen portrayal.
Richard Taylor said he was caused “immense distress and embarrassment” by the 2022 film, which focuses on amateur historian Philippa Langley’s quest to find the king’s remains, despite the film’s portrayal of indifference and condescension from the academic world.
A judge at a preliminary hearing last year said the film’s portrayal of former deputy registrar Taylor University of Leicester“Complacent, unnecessarily dismissive and patronizing.”
The case was scheduled to go to a full trial, but on Monday an attorney for Taylor announced that the dispute had been resolved. Attorney William Bennett said the defendant – actor-writer steve cooganCoogan’s production company Baby Cow and Pathé Productions agreed to pay Taylor “substantial damages” and legal costs. The amount was not disclosed.
The defendants said they would also add an on-screen explanation at the beginning of the film stating that the portrayal “is fictional and does not represent the actions of the real Mr. Taylor.”
Taylor, who is now chief operating officer Loughborough UniversitySaid that the agreement was justified after “a long and fierce battle”.
“There have been moments in the last three years when I thought, when Philippa langley The university contacted me for support, “Maybe I should have trashed the request,” he said, “but I didn’t, and I think I was right not to.”
Coogan, who co-wrote “The Lost King” and played Langley’s ex-husband, insisted that “This film is a true story, the story of Philippa Langley. That’s the story I wanted to tell, and I’m glad I did.”
Coogan said, “If it weren’t for Philippa Langley, Richard III would still be lying under a car park in Leicester.” “It is his name that will be remembered in connection with the discovery of the lost king long after Richard Taylor has passed into oblivion.”
Archaeologists from the University of Leicester worked with Langley in 2012 to unearth Richard’s skeleton in the center of the city. EnglandMore than five centuries after he was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, it was the final act of a civil conflict known as the Wars of the Roses.
The conqueror took the throne as King Henry VII, and under the Tudor dynasty he established, Richard was disgraced. William Shakespeare portrayed him as an evil, hunchbacked usurper who murdered his two young nephews because they were rivals for the crown.
Some historians, including Langley, believe that Richard was unfairly maligned, arguing that he was a relatively enlightened king whose short reign between 1483 and 1485 led to reforms including the introduction of the right of bailiff and the lifting of restrictions on books and the printing press.
Scientists at the University of Leicester worked to confirm that the remains were those of the medieval king, and in 2015 Richard was reburied with royal ceremony in a tomb in Leicester Cathedral.