Sunday, November 29, 2009

The Take-Over Battle in May 2007






The Battle over A Bouquet for a Kill in May 2007

During May shooting I realized more and more Lydie had planned to push me out of my own project. After completing short version in April Lydie, Roswitha and I have met in a restaurant and we agreed that we are going to shoot a 90 minute version. I wanted to wait with shooting till Cannes Filmfestival was over as we were trying to get more money to do it bigger, but Lydie insisted we had to start as soon as possible with the 90 minute version and she already had talked to Michael Worth her former co-star of Acapulco H.E.A.T. to come over to Germany in early may.
Later Lydie and Roswitha claimed this meeting had never took place and they never agreed to shoot with me a long version, but there are witnesses who can confirm. We met at Lydie´s birthday at a German Freemason´s Lodge to celebrate Lydie´s birthday and Lydie and Roswitha there told everyone we had agreed to shoot the 90 minute version, that Michael Worth will come from Los Angeles and Lydie even told Hans-Jürgen we need to shoot new scenes at his apartment what they finally did in may.

Lydie went back to Paris and I prepared the may shooting in Berlin.
I was shocked when Lydie mailed me a new 48 page version of my original around 100 page script. This was far too short for a 90 minute movie and her re-writes made no sense at all. I discussed this with Michael Worth and he agreed on most of what I said. (I still have all the emails). Michael Worth who is also an experienced producer and I emailed about the questions what camera and technical equipment we are going to use and Lydie went furious when she learend Michael Worth and I discussed script and technics. Lydie had abolutley no knowledge of HD cameras, PAl, NTSC standards, 24p or 25p and Michael Worth knew all about and so I considered it a good idea to discuss this with Michael but Lydie insisted she as a director has to decide who is allowed to talk to whom about what. I am the producer and I do not take orders from directors unless they are Alfred Hitchcock or Lubitsch.

When I did not Greenlight Lydie´s new scriptversion she run amok and started shooting without my permit and Roswitha supported her. Lydie obviously had already made plans to push me out of the project and had talked to Avi Lerner behind my back. First she had told me she wanted Avi Lerner to come in as a co-producer to get additional money to do it better and bigger but I realized she wanted Avi Lerner to come in to buy me out.

She mailed me an email asking me to give her all my receipts and claimed Avi Lerner had asked her to do so. I did not believe her.
She finally admitted she wanted Avi to buy me out and then emailed me a new contract she had wrtiten and wanted me to sign the project over to her. (She had realized she cannot take the project to Mr Lerner as long as I own the copyright).

Lydie wanted me to leave the project and give her all the rights. She wanted only to give me a coproducer´s credit and she even wanted all the writer´s credits for herself, leaving me just a credit "based on an idea by Michael Huck". If you are a little bit familiar with copyright laws you probably know according to US copyright law "ideas" cannot be protected. Nice try, Denier.

The second trap she wrote into that contract was that she has to fully reimbourse me in the event if the long version is sold to American Television. Looks good at first but isn´t if you know that most low budget productions are never sold to television and only distributed on dvd or video. So in this case she could have made lots of money with dvd sales and I would not get one cent IF NOT SOLD TO AMERICAN TELEVISION. I alsow would get nothing according to this conctract if sold to German, French or other television.(However she made a mistake again and did write American television NOT US, so what if sold to Brazil ???) Then there are some clauses like the sum will not exceed $ 5000 . I have spent much more than this sum on the project. And what about Jörg and Vonny who also invested in the movie and cast and crew?
Actually in the worst case neither I nor anyone else besides Lydie would get money. Not a good contract.
Jörg and I set up another contract which made sure everyone involved in the short and long version would get a share of profits in case the long version is made and sold. Lydie had not to pay one cent in advance, only if sold but then everyone would get a share. Lydie refused to sign this contract and I refused to sign hers.

So all the work cast and crew did on this project so far did not get us anywhere.
It is my job as a producer to somehow release this project.

photo: Copyright 2007 by Jörg Peter

Sunday, November 22, 2009

The Fight over A Bouquet for a Kill Part 3






A Bouquet for Kill
The Fight over A Bouquet for a Kill, Part 3

In February 2007 we started shooting the English version of "Du sollst nicht Ehebrechen!" entitled The Other Women, later re-titled A Bouquet for a Kill .
I had changed the ending. Lydie who did star and direct had changed the ending
again and I liked Lydie´s new ending.
Lydie had also changed the beginning. In the first versions Mrs Tanner and
Sybille / Sarah first talk for a long time, then Mrs. Tanner takes Sarah prisoner.
In the new English version, Mrs. Tanner overpowers Sarah right at the beginning and
ties her up. I also liked this change as it made the story more suspenseful.

The rest of the story was by and large the same, but I realized while shooting Lydie did start telling around she had totally re-written my script and the new script has nothing to do with my original Unhappy End! story and she tried to convince herself it´s true. When she finally realized this is not working as I can prove I did the same story two times before in Germany (and a copy is at Register of Copyrights) she tried to make me sign over the copyright to her and when I refused she finally started telling the stalker story.

Even if you have not watched yet all 3 versions of the story, only have a look at the photos and you will realize the story is very much the same. I have no idea what Lydie is trying to achieve. It´s if someone takes Romeo and Juliette and changes the ending and makes them marry and re-arrange the poison scene and starts with that scene and then claims now it´s not anymore William Shakespeare´s.

photos above: stills from shooting A Bouquet for a Kill and some photos of Lydie Denier taken for PR to promote A Bouquet for a Kill.

All photos are Copyright 2007 by Jörg Peter

The Fight over A Bouquet for a Kill Part 2






Unhappy End! Episode 19: Die Hexe
The Fight over A Bouquet for a Kill Part 2

In 2002 I had met with Lydie Denier in Hollywood and showed her an expose of our old German Unhappy End! episode 2, Du sollst nicht Ehebrechen. Lydie liked it and I promised her to come back with an English script. I entitled the script The Other Woman and Lydie also liked the script and we signed a Letter of Intent that we are going to shoot a movie together based on my and Jean Bork´s script. Lydie would star and direct and I produce. We met several times in Los Angeles and Paris to discuss script and cast. In the English version the wife was still named Stephanie Tanner (only the h was missing because in English Th(anner) would have been pronounced Sanner) but I changed the young woman´s name from Sybille to Sarah Lamarr. Sarah because I loved the Buffy-the Vampire Slayer tv show starring Sarah-Michelle Gellar and Lamarr because Lydie loves Hedy Lamarr so much.

In the meantime when I was back in Germany I re-shot a German version of the story this time entitled "Die Hexe" (The Witch) . We used almost the same script. I did this for seeing how to set up lights and camera best and I also used two cameras, my SVHS Panasonic MS 4 and a new digital camcorder from JVC as I intented to start shooting digital. We also shot "Die Hexe" in the same apartment we also rented later to shoot the English version with Lydie. As I knew by then already that Lydie will star in the English version, I placed a copy of a magazine with Lydie on the cover on a table in the apartment. If you watch "Die Hxe" you´ll might notice.
Katja Bienert and Mona Glass did star in "Die Hexe".

Above you´ll see some of the photos of "Die Hexe".
All photos copyright by Michael Huck

The Fight over the A Bouquet for a Kill 1






Unhappy End! Episode 2 Du sollst nicht Ehebrechen
The Fight over A Bouquet for a Kill Part 1

As you already know, Lydie Denier and I shot "A Bouquet for a Kill" from February 2007 till May 2007. Lydie went behind my back, contacted Avi Lerner and asked him to buy me out. When I refused to sign her take-over contract, she and Roswitha claimed I have nothing to do with the movie. Roswitha´s lawyer wrote a letter to my lawyer claiming it is NOT my story and not my production but Lydie Denier´s. They even laimed I have not be present while shooting! And finally Lydie accused me to be a crazy stalker and not a producer.

"A Bouquet for a Kill" is my baby. It´s my project. It is based on a German script we did many years ago and that´s why I can prove it is my project. We shot the German script already in the 1990s, years before I met Lydie Denier. Jean Bork and I wrote the script together. It is about a jealous wife, Mrs Tanner (played by Ingrid Littmann) who learns her husband has an affair with a much younger woman. The wife goes over to the young woman´s place and begs her to stop the affair with her husband. When the young woman refuses, the wife beats her up, ties her up and gags her and finally kills her. Then the mailman brings a letter of her husband. The wife reads the letter and realizes her husband just had decided to end the affair. Jean Bork played the part of the young lover and the Episode of the Unhappy End! series is entitled "Du sollst nicht Ehebrechen!" The Episode has been releasen in German speaking countries in 1999 on VHS, later on DVD.

Above you see some of the photos of the German version starring Jean and Ingrid.
All photos Copyright by Michael Huck

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The Restraining Order





The Restraining Order

This is the Restraining Order. Lydie finally found a certain Judge Rosenberg at Santa Monica Court who believed her fairy tales and gave her this Restraining Order.

Let me tell you one thing: I consider this a serious matter. Judge Rosenberg declared me a dangerous, armed stalker based on false evidence (The manipulated Cannae email) and Lydie Denier´s lies (that Berlin Police searched my apartment and found the place "littered" with Denier photos). I am now in the computers of all US states as a dangerous maniac. So I consider this a really serious matter and I do not intent of making fun of Judge Gerald Rosenberg or Santa Monica Court.

So why am I writing this: Lydie Denier - assisted by Judge Rosenberg and Santa Monica Court - tries to damage my reputation by giving TMZ and other media the information about the Restraining Order and telling the world that I am a dangerous stalker. My reputation is already bad enough. Most critics who wrote about my projects put me in a row with Ed Wood. (o.k. I love Ed Wood, I can live with that.)

But it is me who decides if and how I have to defend my reputation, so I want to write here just some of my thoughts on the Restraining Order, Santa Monica Court and Judge Rosenberg and how they handle this case.

First let´s have a look at this Restraining Order. Judge Rosenberg believed Lydie I am a stalker, right? He made a decision and he mailed me that I am NOT allowed to try to find out Lydie´s address, right?
Hm... Look at the court papers they mailed to me. Page 1: They mailed me Lydie´s address !!! (I did black it out so no real stalker will visit Lydie)I do not think it is Lydie´s real address, but even if it is only the address of a friend or a mailing address, CAN YOU BELIEVE THEY MAILED HER ADDRESS TO ME ???

If I were a R E A L stalker , that´s all I needed. A real stalker could now go to this address or mailbox and just wait till Lydie comes along picking up her mail from...Santa Monica court!

O.K. I think you´ll understand that from right here my confidence in Santa Monica Court is Z E R O .

I wrote I do not blame Ms Denham from Santa Monica Court and Judge Rosenberg that they believed Lydie is stalked by a maniac. Almost every actress is stalked by some maniac, so till here it makes sense if an actress comes to court and pleads for help because a stalker is after her that they try to help her.

But NOW : Lydie told them GERMAN POLICE IN BERLIN did investigate. Great ! German Police involved ! There must be a file in Germany on the case !!!

A Judge has to make important decisions. Often based on what people tell him. That´s difficult. But in this case, Lydie told them there is already a Police file and told them I have threatened to kill her in G E R M A N Y .

To find out what happened, how dangerous this stalker might be or to see if Lydie really tells the truth - actually it is a serious matter to accuse someone to have threatened to kill - all Judge Rosenberg and Ms Denham had to do is to pick up a phone and call German police in Berlin. The file is in the computer and most is in English, German police could have emailed the file within seconds and Judge Rosenberg and Ms Denham could have learned

THAT:

- German Police did never search my apartment

- Lydie Denier and I did shoot "A Bouquet for a Kill" from February 2007 till
May 2007, exactly the time she claimed I had stalked her

- the email Lydie showed them was falsified : the original Cannae emai IS in
the German Police file

- Lydie tried to take over my project and take it to Avi Lerner

- I did sent German Police after Lydie after she did not return my tapes

I admit this is a horrible complicated case, but if Ms Denham and Judge Rosenberg had done their homework they would at least have found out that there must be something wrong with Lydie Denier´s tales of terror.

However Judge Rosenberg and Ms Denham never really cared and instead declared me a dangerous stalker.
THEY HAVE NO PROOF! And they did not bother to get in touch with German Police to find out what is going on, they just supported Denier in damaging my reputation in
giving her a restraining order having ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE that what Lydie told them is the truth.

I was informed two days before the hearing of the Hearing and had not time and opportunity to talk to someone at Santa Monica court. I am in Germany and they notified me two days before the Hearing and when I called them no one was willing to talk to me and all they let me know was I should get a lawyer.
Can you think of something more Kafkaesque ? You get mail from a faraway place like China and they write you they accuse you to be a dangerous maniac and they invite you to come over within 48 hours ???

I have absolutely no confindence in this court and I wrote to Governor Schwarzenegger to please let LASD investigate as I know they know how to do their job and I have total confindence in LASD .

I repeat: I am INNOCENT . I did not pull a gun on Lydie Denier and I didn´t threaten to kill her. Lydie did falsify evidence and did lie to Judge Rosenberg. I am not a stalker and Lydie tried to take over my movie to take it to Avi Lerner. That´s why we fight. Lydie enlisted Santa Monica court to fight me and to get rid of me and Judge Rosenberg so far does not understand what is going on and that Lydie only U S E S him and Santa Monica Court in her fight over our movie against me.

I also ask any newspaper or website who wants to help me to distribute all evidence I have to get in touch with me at MichaelMHuck@aol.com

Maybe Judge Rosenberg will realize what is going on if he sees the evidence in the newspapers if SMC is not willing or able to investigate on their own.
It is NOT my job to prove I am innocent. It is the job of Judge Rosenberg to find out who is the bad guy or - in this case - bad girl.

Lydie tries to ruin my reputation, so I will tell anyone who wants to know what really happened and give you all the evidence you need to know.

Sincerely Yours,

Michael Huck

photo above: that´s me.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Stalker Docu


The Stalker Docu

Lydie Denier accused me to be a stalker. I am not. I am a producer. That´s why I strike back with this lovely docu. Coming in February 2010 (around Berlin Filmfestival) you can finally watch this extraordinary documentation on shooting A Bouquet for a Kill with Lydie Denier. The Thriller behind the Thriller.
I personally read the court papers with French accent! Hurrah!

Why do I make fun of Lydie and her stalking fairy tales?
Because it´s funny!!! I simply could not resist to do so. I take the whole matter serious of course. Acutally I´m in the computers of all United States as a stalker, that´s quite serious. And Lydie found a judge at Santa Monica Court who believed her fairy tales. But this will not last forever. I mailed them a copy of our outtakes and lots of evidence and sooner or later even Judge Gerald Rosenberg at Santa Monica court will have to admit charming Lydie did fool them.
I did not do the things Lydie told about me. I am innocent and I always told the truth, so I do not care how many lies Lydie is telling, sooner or later even her greatest fans will have to realize what is going on.

This docu might help, so just order it at MichaelMHuck@aol.com and decide for your own. Listen to me while I read the courtpapers and watch what I have to say and then decide yourself. As Lydie tries to damage my reputation I only can fight back and tell what really happened.

I already wrote that I still have a high regard for Lydie as an actress and this will not change no matter how this fight will end.
However I want to tell you now what I think of Lydie as a person after I had the pleasure to shoot and work with her for quite a long time.

Lydie did try to push me out of my movie. She went behind my back talking to some of the actors and crew asking them to support her to push me out of my project and then taking it to Avi Lerner. She still took my money and let me pay for her flights and Health inusurance in may 2007 when she already worked hard behind my back to take the picture to Avi Lerner. I consider this disgusting.
Lydie and her German "friends" met without me celebrating to have pushed me out and going to Avi Lerner when the editor went over to them and told them they can forget about it as he will not give Lydie the dvd without my permit.

Lydie then started to get real mean. I consider her a coward. She did not talk to me to get things straight. She betrayed the whole cast and crew who believed in her and she run away. She asked Roswitha to let her lawyer write a letter to my lawyer claiming I had offended and threatened ROSWITHA (!!!!!) with the Cannae email. (The mail I wrote to Lydie, remember?) She also made them write that I am not the copyrightowner. (I shot the story years before Lydie and I met in German language and the English script is registered as early as 2003 at Register of Copyrights. It´s my and Jean Bork´s script). Lydie again acted like a coward and did hide behind Roswitha.

When this did no work she run to Santa Monica court and found honorable Judge Gerald Rosenberg who believed her fairy tales and gave her a Restraining Order. I can imagine Lydie was certainly convincing playing the helpless, charming stalking victim. (Hey, we are talking about Lydie Denier, martial arts expert who did more than 100 action shows. I have been a Tannenberg soldier and I consider her extremly dangerous, especially if she is running amok and believe me: I´ve seen her running amok). But I still consider her a coward as she does what she always did: hiding behind someone else and this time it is judge Gerald Rosenberg and his restraining order.
What Lydie did was extremely mean. She did offend everyone who is really stalked by some maniac. As far as I´m concerned, she did accuse me wrongly but I am not afraid of her. First, Lydie´s fairy tales already did fire back on her and many people understood already she did not tell the truth and sooner or later everyone will know the truth.
Second, stupid as it may sound, this strange PR helps me to get be better known in the US and in the end will help me hopefully to sell more of our excellent dvds of our series Unhappy End!, Nightmare Follies and The 7 Nightmares Girl starring the most beautiful actresses and models you can dream of, half the age of Lydie but twice as beautiful (and you should ask yourself: If I work with all those beautiful girls most of them here in Berlin and Germany, WHY should I stalk 45 year old Lydie all around the world??? Hey, I´ve seen her WITHOUT MAKE-UP !!! Get serious !!!)
You see that´s not the point. I wanted to work with Lydie because I loved her as an actress and because I understood she is not only a good actress but her more than 20 years Hollywood experience is priceless. If we had shot more projects together we could have made some nice little thrillers Terence Fisher or Alfred Hitcock style. This was the reason I wanted to work with Lydie. I did not care that she was not anymore 25 . I loved Peter Cushing, James Stewart, Charles Trenet, Maurice Chevalier, Sinatra and Dean Martin even more when they grew older. I love Barbara Eden today as much as I did love her when I was 10 years old and watched her the first time in I dream of Jeanny. If you like an actor or an actress age does not really matter.

I also want to say here some words on LASD . The last couple of weeks I had not only to deal with Santa Monica court but also with LASD and I can say it is always a pleasue to talk to officers or deputies of Sheriff Baca´s LASD. Inspite of the fact they also could not know what was going on at first and only knew what Lydie told Santa Monica court they took the time to look in their computers and to listen to me. When I called or emailed or faxed them there was always someone getting immediately back to me and have a look at the problem. If you are in Los Angeles and someone accusses you to have done something and you are innocent, stay away from court and try to talk to someone of LASD.

Sincerely Yours,

Michael Huck

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Email atttachment to Laurel & Hardy Files



This is the email to the Laurel & Hardy files.
photo: Lydie, Oliver and Jörg shooting "A Bouquet for a Kill"
photo: copyright 2007 by Michael Huck

The Laurel an Hardy Files


Some Words on Laurel & Hardy, Love, Partnership, Frienship and
Corruption


Lydie accuses me to be in love with her and having threatened her that I would kill her if she refuses to be "together" with me.
I already mentioned what she says is not true. I have never been in love with Lydie IN THE ROMANTIC SENSE of the word and the last thing I want is to be "togehter" with Lydie. I consider Lydie a very uncanny person, a kind of Jekyll and Hyde character who kisses and hugs you one day and the next day hates you and stabs you in the back. I often told I do not want anymore to be in the same room with her. And I mean it.

First everyone has to keep one important thing in mind: I am a producer and I have worked with Lydie. On a shooting set everyone tells everbody how much you love each other. I always did LOVE, ADORE and ADMIRE Lydie as an actress. She is a very special, gifted and great actress. I always considered her a wonderful actress and one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. My feelings never changed after she decided to fight me and to try to push me out of The Other Woman /A Bouquet for a Kill. This is one thing: I consider what she did was mean, unfair and I will fight her as long as she will not give back my videotapes of the shooting I paid for. But what she did does not make her a bad actress, of course. This fight has nothing to do with that. It is still a matter of fact Lydie is a great actress and if I watch Perfect Alibi or Acapulco H.E.A.T. I still admit she is hilarious.

When Lydie and I signed in 2003 a letter of Intent that we are going to work together and to shoot together I was thrilled and I loved meeting with her in Hollywood and in Paris and later in Berlin to discuss and work on "Bouquet". We met many times at the Clafoutie and Cafe Med in Beverly Hills, at the Fouquet in Paris and her place in Paris where she stayed and in Berlin and it was fun working with her. I earlier wrote I considered her my Stan Laurel and I loved her the way Ollie did love Stan or Dean Martin did love Jerry Lewis or Peter Cuhsing loved Christopher Lee. I was interessted in a partnership with Lydie like I have one in Germany with Katja, setting up projects and at first it worked wonderful. In Berlin Lydie came to my place and we edited what we shot during Berlin Filmfestival having much fun. As far as I was concerened I offered Lydie to go on with the partnership and shooting together more projects. Lydie on the other hand changed her mind while in Germany.
When she worked with Roswitha who was then a big name in Germany, Lydie decided Roswitha is a far better partner for her than I am and from April 2007 Lydie started to push me out of my own project. She fired cast and crew I had hired and hired new people but she had several problems: I am the copyrightowner and I was not willing to sign the project over to her.

Cast and Crew had to make decisions if they support Lydie (director) or me (producer) and Roswitha and some of the people Lydie and Roswitha brought in supported Lydie hoping to get a ticket to Hollywood. One woman who did the make-up is now a friend on Lydie´s facebook site. Anohter actor Roswitha brought in told me he has no conctact anymore with Lydie but considers Roswitha still his friend.
Katja, Jean, Rolf and other cast and crew members refused to support Lydie´s take-over attempt. Lydie wanted to keep Jörg as a DP and Jörg and I discussed it would be the best if he stayed on the set, so I know what is going on the days I am not present. (Lydie and Roswitha had scoutet some locations on her own and refused to let me in or did not tell me where they shot. However Lydie called / smsed me several times a day if she needed props or if problems arose.). Jörg informed me they gave interviews one day when I was not present and told the press "A Bouquet for a Kill" is an US production for a "Women´s Channel". However it was one of Roswitha´s friend,
whom she had reommended as an editor who finally stopped Lydie´s take-over attempt when refusing to give to Lydie the edited material. Without this dvd Lydie had nothing to go to Cannes to show to Avi Lerner. I cannot say how deeply grateful I am that the editor in spite of the fact he was a friend of Roswitha´s did NOT support Lydie´s take over attempt.

It is always a terrible decision if someone whom you consider a friend asks you to do something that is not right or even illegal. And it was painful for me to see how some actors and crew members were willing to support Lydie hoping this will bring them in touch with the big Avi Lerner. I am also very grateful that Avi Lerner - who is certainly not a fan of mine - and who has worked several times with Lydie , stopped talking to her as soon as he realized what she is doing.
So actually it was a friend of Roswitha`s and a friend of Lydie`s who stopped Lydie´s take-over attempt.

So you see, this was all very painful for everyone involved. Lydie and I have a contract and when Lydie tried to break that contract this did damage many professional and personal relationships. And inspite of the fact that I still consider Lydie a great and wonderful actress, I think everyone will understand that I have not anymore a high regard for Lydie as a person.
So it is absolutely ridiculos if she tells Santa Monica court I am in love with her and want to be together with her. I certainly am not in love with her and I certainly do not want to be together with her. All I want from Lydie is my videotapes so I can edit my picture.

I enclose two emails, one is written by me in may 2007 one by Lydie in may 2007, shortly after the may shooting, when Lydie was already back in Paris (with the flight I paid for. I really thought of cancelling her flight, but I did not because I did not want to break the contract I have with her).

As you can see in the enclosd email I still write Lydie how much I adore her (as an actress and director) If you read the mail it is about her acting and directing not about love.

In Lydie´s email she writes she will give my "love poems" to her lawyers. (actually I always write poems in French, German, English even Latin and give those poems to people I work with. I did this already 25 years ago when working at Walt Diseny World in Florida. But decide yourself: If I wrote "love poems" to Lydie and she felt offended, why didn´t she give the love poems immediately to her lawyers or police? Why did she wait with that till we had the fight over "A Bouquet for a Kill" ?
And what kind of woman is this, who - when fighting over a business problem (AND LYDIE ADMITS IN THIS EMAIL THIS IS A BUSINESS ISSUE ) runs to lawyers not with the business files but with "love poems" written earlier.

Actually I am not even sure what Lydie is talking about. I am a big fan of Charles Trenet, the great French singer who also wrote La mer (or if you are younger Beyond The Sea, recently recorded by Robbie Williams) and I wrote some new lyrics to Charles Trenet songs like Revoir Paris. After I had met with Lydie once in Paris I wrote some poem in French to the rhythm of Revoir Paris making it to Revoir Lydie. I wrote that when I drove back with the metro and later when I waited for my plane at the airport and later mailed it to Lydie - she never complained.

And I also remember, after I could not reach her for some weeks when she was filming in Romania I wrote her some lines to the music of Charles Trenet´s "Il pleut dans ma chambre" and wrote lines, something like: To find you I´ll enlist the birds in a tree, Rommel and Montgomery... Yes, Rommel and Montgomery, so this was more funny than kind of love poem and again, Lydie NEVER complained till the take-over fight much later. If she were offenend by those "love poems" why did she sign anew contract with me in 2007 and why did she come to Germany in 2007 to shoot with me?

Bernie Brillstein, the great agent who presented The Muppets, once wrote you should never lie because it is so difficult as you always have to come up with new lies to cover the old ones. And he is right. That´s Lydie´s main problem.
Telling lies you have an advantage for some time but sooner or later everyone - including Judge Gerald Rosenberg - will know the truth. And then Lydie will really be in trouble.

In Lydie´s email she also admits she has worked with me (so I am NOT a stalker but a producer). She even admits she has signed a contract with me as an actress and director. She also says she has not signed a contract as a writer. Exactly. I never wanted her to rewrite the script. But when she brought in script changes I liked I allowed her to use this ideas. Howewer when she finally rewrote more and more scenes which made not much sense I refused to Greenlight this - this is my decision as a writer of the original script and producer. In one and the same email Lydie tells me she thinks I am not allowed to use the project and some lines later she tells me she does not want the 20 minute version anymore (actually when finally edited it is 30 minutes). That´s Lydie, she never knows what she actually wants.

The email I wrote is one of many emails I wrote in the same style. I always told Lydie how much I love her (as an actress) but I made it clear I will fight her till I am 80 if she does not return my tapes.
That´s all I want. Lydie and I signed a contract. I want to edit my movie and Lydie had no right to try to push me out of my project.

Sinerely Yours,
Michael Huck

Friday, November 13, 2009

Lydie gets a Gun



Lydie gets a Gun - The Berlin Gun Story

As I already mentioned, I NEVER threatened to kill Lydie and NEVER pulled a gun on her. The truth is: While shooting A Bouquet for a Kill in Berlin we used several prop knives, real knives and a revolver. One prop knife we did rent at a prop store in Berlin for several days. Lydie and I did pick it up together. I also own prop guns we use for shooting our videos. NO REAL FIREARMS . Anyway you can shoot blankets and if fired close to an actor cannot kill but burn or hurt him. Lydie and I did meet at a cafe at Paul-Lincke-Ufer and I showed a revolver to her, one I thought would be good for the scene when Michael Worth`s character shoots the PI at his office. I showed Lydie the revolver in the cafe and she loved it and wanted to keep it during shooting A Bouquet for a Kill. I explained to her that we have very strict laws in Germany and you even need a permit for a prop gun (which I do have indeed). Lydie told me she did 1000 action tv shows ad knows how to handle guns but I insisted that I will bring the revolver to the set and refused to give it to her.
Later I also wrote her an email asking her to handle the revolver carefully and especially do not use the revolver near someone´s eyes or face and also to protect the ears. That´s my job as a producer. Lydie went mad and wrote me again that she knows how to do action movies and I have not to tell her how to handle guns.I enclose two of the emails. Also nice to show you how it feels for a producer to shoot with director Lydie Denier. We later used the revolver in the Tempelhof Studios where we shot the PI scenes with Michael Worth. I was present while shooting the scenes.

Sincerely Yours,
Michael Huck

photo: Jean Bork and Lydie Denier copyright 2007 by Jörg Peter

Monday, November 9, 2009

From Big Hugs & Kisses to I never talk to you again




Shooting A Bouquet for a Kill

Here are two more emails from Lydie while shooting A Bouquet for a Kill :

One dated February 21, 2007. Lydie was in Paris watching what we shot during Filmfestival in February. Remember: She told Santa Monica Court I had stalked her earlier at Berlin Filmfestival!

The second email is dated Mai, 2nd 2007. I wrote I had eamiled with Michael Worth about the script. Remember: I wrote the original script. I am the producer. Lydie did direct and rewrote MY SCRIPT on her own and I did not Greenlight it as her rewrite made not much sense. Michael Worth agreed, I still have the emails I exchanged with Michael Worth. And that is what Lydie wrote me. She (Director) told me (Producer !!! ) not to talk to the male lead (Worth) about my own project.
Lydie obviously went over the top thinking she is kind of Orson Wells or Bette Davis.

If I produce a movie (and if it is my ORIGINAL SCRIPT ) I decide to whom I will talk and not the director or anyone else.

Lydie even told me (and anyone else) A Bouquet for a Kill is NOT an Unhappy End! movie. Look at the original Unhappy End episodes "Du sollst nicht Ehebrechen" and
"Die Hexe" (shot in the same apartement as A Bouquet for a Kill) and compare it to A Bouquet for a Kill. A Bouquet for a Kill IS Unhappy End!, of course it is from start to...Unhappy End!

photo: Michael Worth, Lydie, Roswitha and German Superplayboy Rolf Eden who did play Dr. Stone in "A Bouquet for a Kill". He also let us shoot at his´home and use his wonderful Rolls Royce. Copyright 2007 by Jörg Peter

Shooting A Bouquet for a Kill




Pre Shooting

This emails show that Lydie did not tell the truth when she told Santa Monica Court there was not contact between her and me till Berlin Filmfestival 2007. In the emails from december 2006 you can see:
1) I did send Lydie the script written by me, Jean Bork and corrected by a writer from Australia
2) I did recommend German actress to play the Mrs Tanner part.
Later Lydie claimed she had written the script (in fact it is STILL a remake of Du sollst nicht ehebrechen, and it is STILL Unhappy End! whatever Lydie claims now.

And it also shows I did bring in Roswitha Schreiner with whom I had worked earlier shooting the Der Tag vor der Hochzeit episode of the Unhappy End! series.

photo: Copyright 2007 by Jörg Peter
Lydie Denier with Jean Bork on the set of A Bouquet for a Kill" Jean did co-write the original script and did also star in the original German Unhappy End! episode.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Cannae Files






The Cannae mail, Hannibal and the Tannenberg Battle

To write the Cannae email to Lydie in 2007 was one of the saddest moements in my life. Lydie Denier wanted to push me out of my own movie and take it to Avi Lerner. She was absolutely sure she could make me to turn the movie over to her. She had teamed up with Roswitha Schreiner, the German actress who played the Mrs Tanner part and Lydie had replaced Katja and Jean with two other actresses, Esther Seibt and Jutta Fastian. The camera was now operated mainly by Roswitha´s husband and Lydie had already a scheduled meeting with Avi Lerner. She was supposed to meet him some days later at the Cannes Filmfestival to show him some edited scenes of "A Bouquet for a Kill". She had made me to believe earlier she wanted to meet with Avi to bring him in as a co-prodcuer and had asked me to give her the receipts of shooting so she can show it to Avi Lerner. Later she admitted it was not to bring in Avi Lerner as a co-producer but to make him buy me out. She wanted me to leave the movie so she could take over and Avi Lerner should pay. I refused to leave my own movie.

Lydie´s take-over attempt was very poorly designed. She did not own the copyright, I do. I also had shot the same story twice in Germany years before, so I can prove it is my copyright and the English script is registered at the Copyright office in Washington in 2003 ! I have contracts with the actors I brought in like Katja Bienert and Rolf Eden, while Lydie obviously not even had signed contracts with the people she brought in to replace the old crew / cast hired by me. They shot for some days without contracts and insurance and I declared I will not give them more money if not contracts with all involved are signed before starting shooting long version in may. I have signed contracts with all people involved in the april and february shootings including Lydie; the only exception is Roswitha Schreiner who did not sign her contract and told me she has first to mail it to her agent in Hamburg. From march 2007 till may 2007 she and her agent always wanted to re-negotiate something in the contract and I finally declared she has to sign it before start may shooting. Then Roswitha sent me an email admitting she will not sign any contract before Lydie has talked to Avi Lerner in Cannes.
So when I refused to pay more money for the may shooting they did shoot anyway. I was present on some days of the shooting on some not. I had set up the may shooting, paid already money, paid the props, rentet locations and much more. I still allowed them to use the locations and props, my lighting equipment and as mentioned I was present on some of he shooting days ie at the restaurant scenes and PI office, street scenes in Damaschkestrasse Berlin. (Roswitha´s lawyer later claimed I had not even been present during the shooting).

I did warn Lydie several times she is about to make the same mistake as the romans when fighting Hannibal at Cannae: The much bigger roman army attacked the center of Hannibal´s smaller army, pushing them back, Hannibal´s left and right marched forward, surrounded the roman army and then won the battle in spite of the fact they were actually outnumbered by the much bigger roman army.
In 1914 two big Russian armies attacked Germany and only a small German army was there to stop them led by Hindenburg, Ludendorff and Hoffmann. They remembered Hannibal and Cannae and used the same tactics. They surrounded with their little army the first of the much bigger Russian army.

My situation was similar. There was Lydie Denier, Hollywood star with more than 20 years experice in the toughest showbiz communtiy of the world, Roswitha, a very wellknown German actress and the big Avi Lerner one of the most powerful men in showbiz. By then I did not know that Avi Lerner would not support Lydie any longer as soon as he learned what is really going on. Everyone told me they are too strong to fight but it was my project and I was not willing to let Lydie push me out.
But thinking of Hannibal and Tannenberg I knew I had at least a chance. I have been a soldier in Germany and our headquarters were named after the Battle of Tannenberg, so I knew a lot about Cannae and Tannenberg and that you do not have to panic if
someone who seems to be much stronger attacks you.
I designed a plan how to stop Lydie and I and the DP went to the editor who was a friend of Roswitha´s and explained him what was going on. He agreed that he would not give Lydie Denier the edited scenes unless there are signed contracts. He went over to Roswitha´s place where Lydie and her German friends already had a good time making plans for Cannes. When the editor told Lydie he will not give her the tapes if she does not show him signed contracts of the project she had lost. She had trapped herself in her own trap like the Romans at Cannae. She had nothing to go to Cannes and to show it to Avi Lerner. She wrote me emails and called me asking me to sign a take over contract giving her the rights to use the shot material and show it to Avi Lerner (I have uploaded this email earlier in the blog: the email about letting the cutter burn the movie). I refused to sign the project over to Lydie, and the DP and I set up an own contract. I refused to sign Lydie´s contract and she refused to sign mine.
The meeting in Cannes had to be cancelled.
I contacted Avi Lerner´s office and faxed them what was going on and his office informed me they stopped talking to Lydie.

While this fight was going on, I wrote the famous Cannae email. Before mailing it to Lydie I showed it to the DP who asked me NOT to send it. I thought about for a while then decided to mail it and I thought after what Lydie did she deserved this mail.
I still think it was right. (I only made one grammar mistake. I do speak English but not perfect as you might already noticed. In the mail I wrote "part" instead of "share".

The Cannae mail story also shows of course that Lydie uses really every dirty trick to get rid of me.
She later tried to use this email two times against me.
I uploaded above:

1. my original Cannae email the way it was sent to Lydie Denier (and a copy cc to
Roswitha Schreiner)

2. The falsified and shortened email Lydie Denier presented in 2009 to Santa Monica
court

3. a letter of Roswitha Schreiner´s (!!!!) lawyer claiming I had written the
Cannae email to Roswitha !!!! offending and threatening her with that mail
to make her sign my contract !!!

1. The original mail: I load it up as I wrote it only blacking out two names of
two people Lydie and I know but who are not involved in his fight.
When the cutter refused to give Lydie the dvd she wanted to show it to Avi
Lerner, her take over attempt had failed. I wrote to her: Game over. and signed:
Hannibal. (I am NOT crazy and think I am Hannibal, it simply was a short and
perfect way to let Lydie know her take over game was ... over!)

If you go on reading you see this whole mail is about the fight over the movie,
Lydie´s situation when she was in Paris. She did not get anymore parts in Holly-
wood for a while and was in Paris not really knowing what to do next. When
I set up production of "A Bouquet for Kill" I realized she not even had a
Health insurance and I bought her one not only for the time we shot as usual
while producing a movie but also for the time in-between shootings. (I am not
a saint, acutally it did cost almost the same if I bought 3 times an isurance
for a couple of weeks or one for several months). I also tried to help her to
get new roles introducing her to producers and directors I know and also tried
to help her to sell her theater play about Garbo and her paintings she left here
in Germany while shooting Bouquet. So I was very sad realizing that she actually
tried to push me out of my project.
But there was still the problem left what to do with Bouquet. I have the tapes
of february and april shooting, Lydie and/or her German friends the tapes of
may shooting and none of us could do anything without the other. So when I wrote
things like if you do not save me I will not save your or if I will perish we
both will perish this was about the movie, NOT about a massacre as Lydie wants
to make believe Santa Monica court and press now.

And now look what Lydie did with the mail when she showed to Santa Monica court the
shortened version:

Lydie showed them only some parts inlcuding Hannibal, Tannenberg, the I will
take you away your magic and the we both will perish line.

Great! Looks like a maniac in love had written that who has totally lost his
mind. I cannot even blame Lydie´s fan´s and deputy Denham when reading this,
they believed Lydie she is stalked by a maniac. But you see it´s not true and
you see how Lydie operates now, if you look at the original email.

Also a few words about magic. Lyide Denier was an actress who had a certain kind of magic. Few actors have this. Like James Stewart, Peter Cushing, Lee Grant, Barbara Eden, Erich von Stroheim, Maurice Chevalier. Lydie had this kind of magis earlier. When we started shooting Bouquet I felt she was sad and the magic was not here anymore. As you can see on her website she hadn´t had any parts for some years and she seemed to me very unhappy. After we started shooting this changed and when we shot the scene outside when she was kind of dancing around the tree that magic came back. I am horribly sad that Lydie dediced to fight me and try to push me out of Bouquet. She was kind of Jeklly and Hyde, one day hugging and kissing me and telling me how much she loves working with me, the other day telling around she will never work with me again. I think she just hated the idea of having to take orders from a low budget producer as she thinks herself still to be a big Hollywood star.
As far as I am concerend I always loved and admired her as an actress and I would have stayed with her forever. At the beginning it was so much fun working with her and I thought I had found my Stan Laurel. I always looked for a partner in Hollywood I could work the same way I work with Katja Bienert in Germany and to me Lyide seemed to be that person. She had worked for so many years in Hollywood and when we started working and shooting together at first it was not only fun but I realized if we go on we could become a couple like Laurel and Hardy, Martin and Lewis or Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, setting up together some special kind of thrillers with very cool leading ladies. Lydie also realized early this concept would work, but she decided she only wanted the concept and not me. So she tried to take the concept but WITHOUT me to Avi Lerner.

Looking back, not really a good idea.

As far as Roswitha Schreiner is concerned, she supported Lydié´s take over attempt for reasons I never really understood.
She even let her lawyer write a letter to my lawyer, claiming I had offended and threatened her by mailing her an email (see above) : "Sign my contract and we all
will win. Do not sign it and we both will perish...Your game is over...I am Tannenberg...."

Sounds familar? Yes, she gave her lawyer the or parts of the Cannae email claiming I offended and threatend her with that mail. If you read my original mail above you see clearly this mail was mailed to Denier, only a copy to Roswitha Schreiner. As she was involved and Lydie stayed at her place during may shooting I had mailed a copy to Roswitha to let her know what was going on.

I mentioned I felt very sad to had to write this mail and I am also not happy that I have to upload it now. I never would have made this public. I already have showed the original email to the German police in 2007 when Roswitha claimed I had offended her, but I had not the intention to make it public.
When Lydie now went not only to Santa Monica Court and showed them the falsified email to make me look like a crazy fan who is stalking her and when the falsified email along with court papers where given to TMZ and other media, I had no other choice but to upload the original email to show everyone what really happened.

There are obviously still fans of Lydie´s who did not get it yet and write how sorry they feel for Lydie to be stalked by some bad guy.
I would heave preferred to find a solution the way I mentioned in my mail to Max Keller, Lydie editing a director´s cut, and I editing a producer´s cut. It was Lydie Denier´s decision to go public telling lies.
So I had to go public telling the truth.
It seems one Cannae is not enough for Lydie.
I have no idea what Lydie wants to achieve with this. I want my tapes back, I want
to edit and release the movie. And I can imagine Lydie´s fans also would like to see the movie Lydie did direct. Movies are made to be shown. And it´s the job of the director to make sure they are finished.
Sincerely Yours,
Michael Huck

Monday, November 2, 2009

My Contract with Lydie Denier



The Contract between Michael Huck and Lydie Denier

This is the contract Lydie Denier and I signed in February 2007 while shooting A Bouquet for a Kill. I did black out some of the terms which are between me and Lydie. The important thing is: Lydie Denier signed a contract to shoot this project. Lydie did star and direct. I did write the original script and did produce. We both signed this contract in February 2007 during Berlin Filmfestival - exactly the time when Lydie claims I have stalked her. Strang insn´t it? Why is she shooting a movie with me if she claims I had STALKED her at Berlin Filmfestival 2007.
In fact, I invited her to Filmfestival, paid her flight, ticket to Filmfestival and shooting Bouquet and we went together to Filmfestival. I introduced her to producers and directors there and my friend Vonny got Lydie and me tickets for "Jump" one of the last projects of Patrick Swayze. Vonny knows the women who did produce "Jump" and Lydie and I went together to watch the movie, she sat next to me. After screening she disappeard and I found her outside the screening room running after the director and discussing with him, he is now one of her facebook friends.

As you can see I did produce A Bouquet for a Kill and I have a contract with Lydie who did direct. A director´s duty is to deliver the producer the movie and NOT to run to another, bigger producer and ask him to buy me out so she can take over the project. A Bouquet for a Kill is MY baby. It´s my project I did set up. Lydie tries to take it away from me that is why we fight. I will not let take anyone a project from me. I did work too long to set it up and paid money to set it up. I expect a director who signs a contract with me to shoot a movie to deliver this movie.
Instead Lydie run away and some of the tapes of our shooting are missing.
I need the tapes to edit my movie. I offered Lydie to edit her own director´s cut.
She can do this or nor. But it is my project and I want to finish it. Therefore, I need the tapes.
Lydie Denier claims I am a crazy fan who is madly in love with her and wants to be together with her. The LAST THING I want is to be "together" with Lydie. I do not want to see her anymore or talk to her anymore. All I want is my tapes so I can finally start editing my movie.

Photo: Shooting a Bouquet for a Kill. Lydie directing with DP Jörg Peter
Photo copyright 2007 by Michael Huck

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Max Keller emails



The Max Keller emails

Lydie Denier told US authorities I emailed Max Keller - the producer of Acapulco H.E.A.T. and Tarzan - because I want a reconciliation with Lydie.
This is absolutely not true. I do not want anything from Lydie Denier but my tapes of the May 2007 shooting of "A Bouquet for a Kill". Besides that I hope I will never meet her again in my life. I never had so much trouble with an actress.

I read on Lydie´s (public) facebook site that she is having dinner with Max Keller. I know Max Keller personally and asked him if this is true. when he confirmed I emailed him the enclosed email. The email shows that I do not want anything from Lydie Denier but my tapes so I can finish my movie. As Max Keller knows me and as he has worked both with Lydie Denier and Michael Worth I asked Max Keller to offer Denier she can edit a director´s cut and I will edit a producer´s cut. I also offered Max he could distribute the movie with me together if he can Lydie make return me my tapes. I also asked Max to explain to Lydie that as a director you cannot act the way she did.

To make it clear in case anyone still didn´t get it: Denier accuses me wrongly to be a stalker to get rid of me. In fact we have a fight over the movie we shot together.

Lydie Denier does not fight fair. As she failed in taking over my project, she started to tell I am a maniac with a loaded gun who is after her. And for a couple of time she really made some people believe this nonsense, some masterminds at Santa Monica court who are not able to pick up a phone inclusive.
I am really scared if I think that anyone can walk in Santa Monica court, accuse someone to be a stalker and one-two-three they give you a Restraining Order and inform Immigration that a dangerous stalker might enter the US. I always thought the US law is based on some principles that anyone is NOT guilty as long as his guilt is not proven. May anyone please tell Santa Monica court?
And may someone WHO KNOWS how to operate a phone would please instruct them how to use the phone and dial the number of te German police in Berlin who will tell them that they are actually after...Lydie Denier!
Photo above: Lydie Denier in a scene from A Bouquet for a Kill
Copyright photo 2007 by Jörg Peter