Movie bosses at MGM and Paramount Pictures are facing a new lawsuit from the American Federation of Musicians over a reported Ben Hur oversight.
Guild officials have filed a legal complaint claiming executives have failed to pay wages, benefits and residual compensation to musicians who recorded the score for the 2016 film.
Ben Hur was shot in Italy, but the film retained the services of a California composer, according to the AFM suit. According to film credits, music for the 2016 film was composed by Marco Beltrami, and the legal papers, acquired by The Hollywood Reporter, suggest he was responsible for hiring musicians, arrangers, and orchestrators for the film.
“MGM and Paramount have failed and refused either to cause BH Productions LLC or the composer to comply with the compensation provisions of the Agreement, including those requiring the payment of wages, contributions to pension and health benefit funds, and residual revenue contributions to the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund, to or on behalf of the musicians employed in the scoring of BEN HUR, or in the alternative, to make such payments,” the complaint reads.
