Judge dismisses lawsuit claiming Yesterday trailer tricked Ana de Armas fans

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Ana de Armas
Cuban actress Ana de Armas arrives for the "Ghosted" premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York City on April 18, 2023. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

A judge has dismissed legal action brought by fans of Ana de Armas after the actress was edited out of a film despite appearing in the trailer.

The Knives Out star featured in the trailer for 2019โ€™s Yesterday, a film Conor Woulfe and Peter Michael Rosza said they paid $3.99 to rent.

But when they found de Armas did not feature, they accused Universal Pictures of false advertising.

A judge rejected their case, calling their actions โ€œself-inflicted.โ€

Danny Boyleโ€™s Beatles-themed film starred Himesh Patel, Lily James, and Ed Sheeran and took $155 million at the global box office.

A trailer released months before the filmโ€™s release featured scenes showing Patelโ€™s character appearing to flirt with de Armasโ€™s character on a talk show.

Ana de Armas Louis Vuitton : Photocall - Paris Fashion Week - Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024
Ana de Armas attends the Louis Vuitton Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 06, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

Screenwriter Richard Curtis explained that the actress was cut because test audiences did not like the idea of Patelโ€™s character straying from his primary love interest, played by James.

In 2019, he said it had been a โ€œvery traumatic cutโ€ because de Armas was โ€œbrilliantโ€ in the role.

But her absence led Woulfe and Rosza to claim they were โ€œdeceivedโ€ by Universal Pictures, saying they would not have rented the movie had they known de Armas would not appear.

The pair sought at least $5 million from Universal in the case, which was filed as a class action on behalf of other disappointed fans.

Ana de Armas 95th Annual Academy Awards - Arrivals
Ana De Armas attends the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images )

They said the studio had โ€œused Ms De Armasโ€™s fame, radiance and brilliance to promote the film by including her scenes in the movie trailers advertising Yesterday.โ€

The plaintiffs alleged they had never before seen a trailer featuring an actor or actress who didnโ€™t appear in the advertised film.

Woulfe claimed he had been deceived again after renting the movie on Google Play, which listed de Armas as a cast member. Woulfe said he believed de Armas could appear in that version if it were a directorโ€™s cut.

But the court found that the complainant โ€œlacks standingโ€ to bring a suit because his โ€œinjury is self-inflictedโ€.

Judge Stephen Wilson also said there was no reason to believe the โ€œversion of Yesterday they accessed on Google Play would be a different version of the movieโ€ than the one they watched the first time on Amazon.

Ana de Armas 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones - Arrivals
Ana de Armas attends the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)

Because Woulfe had already watched Yesterday on Prime, the judge ruled it was โ€œnot plausibleโ€ that he could claim the film had been misrepresented, adding that the plaintiffโ€™s case had expressly stated that de Armas โ€œis not and was never in the publicly released version of Yesterdayโ€.

Universalโ€™s lawyers previously argued that a trailer is an โ€œartistic, expressive workโ€ that tells a three-minute story conveying the movieโ€™s general theme.

They said it is not unusual for movie trailers to feature clips that do not appear in the finished film and highlighted other examples such as Jurassic Park.

The judge ultimately ruled the plaintiffs did not watch Yesterday because of statements from Universal that de Armas appears in the movie.


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