After years of protracted legal turmoil in the Ramones estate, the future of Netflix‘s film adaptation of Mickey Leigh’s memoir “I Slept With Joey Ramone” with Pete Davidson attached to star could be in doubt, due to a new arbitration that also saw a director of the groundbreaking punk-rock group’s parent company removed.
The decision was a legal victory for Linda Cummings-Ramone, who is Johnny Ramone’s widow, as Ramones Productions Inc. director David Frey was ordered to be removed as director of RPI immediately and cannot be reelected to the same post again for five years. Frey previously managed Cheap Trick for many years but split acrimoniously with the band in 2013 — taking founding drummer Bun E. Carlos with him, as the two sued the three other bandmembers for hundreds of thousands of dollars in allegedly unpaid touring fees and other expenses.
In a statement shared with Billboard, Cummings-Ramone said she was “thrilled” and that they “will now finally be able to move forward and create and expand the legacy of the best band ever.” “Preserving this legacy is not just a responsibility but a deeply personal mission for me,” reads the statement. “I have dedicated my life to honoring and safeguarding the extraordinary contributions my husband and his band have made to music, culture and the lives of millions around the world.”
Netflix initially announced the Ramones film as a collaboration with STXfilms in 2021, with Jason Orley set to direct and co-write the script with Davidson. Earlier this year, Cummings-Ramone filed a lawsuit against Frey and Leigh (aka Mitchel Hyman), Joey Ramone’s brother, that claimed he “covertly developed an unapproved and unauthorized Ramones-based biopic” without her permission.
After she filed in the suit in January, Frey and Leigh fired back with a countersuit in March stating that she was trying to “install herself as the Queen of the Ramones” and insisted the biopic was not a band tell-all, but rather an adaptation of a family memoir. The point of contention is that a film based on “I Slept With Joey Ramone” would cannibalize an official biopic of the legendary punk rock band, and that the book adaptation would inevitably be a Ramones movie.
On Tuesday, a New York arbitrator granted Cummings-Ramone’s request to remove Frey as director of RPI, determining that Frey “breached his duty of care, honesty and loyalty, in failing to present the STX/Netflix deal to Ms. Cummings-Ramone and/or the Board of RPI for their approval.”
While it’s possible the film could continue through further negotiation, the decision against Frey puts a speed bump on the path to the biopic coming to fruition.
Cummings-Ramone and Leigh are the sole shareholders of RPI, which manages all aspects of the Ramones’ business dealings, and have been in legal contention for years regarding the development of a Ramones biopic. As far back as 2006, discussions of a film were in the works with Cummings-Ramone consenting to potential production of the movie. Cummings-Ramone’s lawsuit from earlier this year claimed that Leigh had decidedly green-lit a biopic based on his “one-sided recitation of the history of the Ramones.”
Around 2019 and 2020, STX negotiated agreements for the rights to develop and produce a film based on Leigh’s book “I Slept With Joey Ramone,” which was published in 2009. STX brought the project to Netflix with the understanding that it wouldn’t be a “Ramones movie” or “Ramones Bio-pic,” and wouldn’t be marketed as such. In June 2022, Leigh’s attorney asked Cummings-Ramone’s attorney to share correspondence regarding the Netflix film being made, to which they responded that Frey will “immediately reach out to Netflix and [redacted] to (1) remind them the project is a Mickey/Joey project and not a Ramones movie as the [redacted] email suggest is the focus or (2) shut it down entirely.”
Frey disputed that he had anything to do with the Netflix film, though the arbitrator in yesterday’s decision determined that there is “no doubt that he was fully aware that such a film would inevitably include music/songs from the Ramones” and cited emails he had sent over the past three years confirming his awareness. The arbitration stated that Frey was “deeply involved in this movie project” and “well-aware of his obligation to obtain Ms. Cummings-Ramone’s consent and/or that of the Board of Directors before agreeing to this project, particularly as there is no doubt that whatever else it claimed to be it would definitely include Ramones’ recordings.”
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