Woman Says Aunt & Uncle Screenwriters|Violated Her Privacy in ‘Finding Amanda’

LAS VEGAS (CN) - The niece of the authors of the 2008 comedy, "Finding Amanda" claims her aunt and uncle used information about her personal crises for the movie, invading her privacy and inflicting emotional distress. Alix Daily sued Leslie and Peter Tolan, Capacity Pictures and Creative Artists Agency in Clark County Court.

Daily claims her mother sought the Tolans' help in "dealing with a family crisis" about her (the plaintiff), who had "allegedly incurred what were described as potential legal, psychological, mental and/or medical issues and problems that were explicitly private and confidential to an extreme."

Soon after that, Daily says, her aunt and uncle "decided to write and produce a major motion picture about the incidents, facts and circumstances of said intervention," which became the movie, "Finding Amanda."

The movie was written and directed by Peter Tolan and starred Matthew Broderick and Brittany Snow. It revolves around a television producer battling problems with drinking and gambling, who is sent to Las Vegas to persuade his niece to enter rehab.

"(A)lthough an attempt was made to fictionalize some of the content, even a cursory review of the plot, story, dialogue, set scenery and design, characters and/or events portrayed in the movie could only derive one conclusion: that in fact the movie was based on real life events and individuals including Peter Tolan, Leslie Tolan and Alix Daily," according to the complaint.

Daily wants at least $20,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

Peter Tolan's writing credit include "Home Improvement," "Murphy Brown" and "Rescue Me" for television, and "Analyze This," "My Fellow Americans" and several others for film. "Finding Amanda" was his directorial debut.

Daily is represented by Joseph Kyle with Kyle & Kyle.

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