Scarlett Johansson’s Defamation Trial Begins

Scarlett Johansson’s defamation trial against French writer Gregoire Delacourt has begun in Paris, France.

Famous actress advocates his La Premiere Chose Qu’On Regarde (The First Thing We Look At) makes “fraudulent use of her name, fame and image” and she is demanding an injunction to prevent the book from being translated or adapted for the big screen.

His publisher, however, have dismissed her allegations as “crazy”.

The actress sued the author and his publisher JC lattes in 2013, after the writer described the heroine of his new novel as Ms Johansson’s “doppelganger”.

She has now demanded 50,000 euros (£41,000) in damages.

Her lawyer argues the bestseller contains “defamatory claims about her private life”.
He explained, “It (book) does what the tabloids do, it says anything.”

The Paris tribunal is expected to last until July 2014.

Her lawyer, Vincent Toledano, told Le Figaro said the novel contains “defamatory claims about her private life” and has now gone to court to try to stop the book being translated or adapted for cinema. The court case began in Paris on Wednesday afternoon, though neither Johansson nor Delacourt were present.

“The freedom of expression that she defends as an artist is not in question,” Toledano said. “Such activities for purely mercantile ends have nothing to do with creativity.”

Delacourt has tried explaining that he chose to reference Johansson only because she is “the archetype of beauty today.”
He said, “I wrote a work of fiction. My character is not Scarlett Johansson.”