The script by Lonergan, a playwright who has screenwriting credits on "Analyze This" and Scorsese's Oscar-nominated "Gangs of New York," is dramatically ambitious and clearly would yield an R-rated movie. Running a sizable 168 pages, Lonergan's "Margaret" script reaches in many directions -- including the political and cultural mood of post- 9/11 New York.
The story revolves around 17-year-old Lisa (Paquin), who may have contributed to a bus accident in Manhattan's Upper West Side. Lisa's mother, Joan (played by Lonergan's wife, J. Smith-Cameron), is a single mom grappling with parenting and her acting career. A sexually active teen, Lisa inappropriately flirts with one of her teachers (Damon) while arguing with her classmates about the Middle East. Lisa ultimately becomes involved in a legal action against the bus operator(Ruffalo). The film's title comes from the Margaret in the poem "Spring and Fall: To a Young Child" by 19th century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, briefly alluded to in one of Lisa's classrooms.
Gilbert, who made his fortune in the mortgage business and is part-owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, had financed 2004's "Garden State," which Searchlight and Miramax Films acquired at the Sundance Film Festival and released to commercial and critical acclaim. Fox Searchlight and Camelot Pictures, Gilbert's production company, agreed to split "Margaret's" costs.
"Margaret" started filming in New York in September 2005 and wrapped photography about three months later, court documents show. It was in the editing room, interviews and court records show, that "Margaret" fell apart.
Even though he had made only one movie, Lonergan enjoyed "final cut" status as a director, a level of creative autonomy typically enjoyed by A-listers such as Steven Spielberg. That status meant that as long as certain conditions were met (including a running time not to exceed 150 minutes, court records show), Lonergan could personally dictate the film's final form -- neither the studio nor Gilbert could take it away from him.
Why Lonergan couldn't finish a version of the film he liked is central to the dispute. Even Lonergan's supporters say he is an exacting perfectionist who struggled to find the movie within the footage he had shot. Gilbert's advocates say (and his lawsuit alleges) that the producer gave Lonergan countless chances to finish the movie but that Lonergan failed to take anyone's counsel.
