Director Adam Shankman sues Jennifer Lopez (8672)

The New York Daily News's Rush & Molloy report that openly gay director Adam Shankman (Bringing Down the House) is filing suit against Jennifer Lopez, who starred in Shankman's debut feature, The Wedding Planner. The $5 million lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles superior court, alleges that Shankman told Lopez during the Wedding Planner shoot that she would be perfect in a screen adaptation of Carmen and that Lopez pitched the idea on her own and behind his back to Universal Pictures. A spokesperson for Lopez commented on the breach-of-contract suit to the Daily News, saying, "We have not seen the complaint, but I'm surprised that anyone would have the audacity to claim intellectual domain over a property as well-known as Carmen." (Georges Bizet's legendary opera debuted in 1875, based on Prosper Merimee's 1845 novella.)