Two fans have filed a consumer protection class-action lawsuit against Universal Studios for what they claim was “deceptive and misleading advertising” for the 2019 film Yesterday.
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According to a recent report from Deadline, the two fans — Conor Woulfe and Peter Michael Rosza — were anticipating seeing actress Ana De Armas in the film. However, the actress was cut from the film, which both fans contend was misleading on the part of Universal, as they had seen the actress in trailers for the film and had each spent approximately $3.99 to watch the film on Amazon.
De Armas was initially supposed to be in the film, where her character was going to feel some mutual affection with lead actor Himesh Patel. However, according to screenwriter Richard Curtis, De Armas was cut from the film because audiences in test screenings didn’t like the flirtation between the pair in the film.
“Ana De Armas as a complicating factor when he [Jack] arrived in L.A. for the first time,” said Curtis in an interview from 2019. “And I think the audience did not like the fact that his eyes even strayed. Because then some people would go, ‘Oh, he really doesn’t deserve her. He really doesn’t deserve Lily.’ You know, it’s one of those things where it’s some of our favorite scenes from the film, but we had to cut them for the sake of the whole.”
Woulfe and Rosza claim in their lawsuit that Universal was attempting to use De Armas’ star power to promote the film, due to the fact that both Himesh Patel and Lily James — the two stars of the film — were “relatively unknown” to casual movie fans, despite the fact that both actors have long and varied credits in the acting world, with Patel having starred in the popular British series EastEnders and James having roles in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Baby Driver, Mama Mia, and Downton Abbey.
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The suit is seeking damages and “all money obtained from Plaintiff and the other members of the Class collected as a result of Defendant’s unfair competition, and for an injunction prohibiting Defendant from continuing and further engaging in its unlawful, unfair and fraudulent conduct, requiring corrective advertising, and awarding all other relief this Court deems appropriate.”
