Posted By: Just Lou
Warriors, come out and play - in court. - 06/27/06 09:28 PM
Movie gang leader sues over his video game role
BY HELEN PETERSON and OWEN MORITZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Warriors, come out and play - in court.
A former actor who played a big-time gang leader in a cult movie about a Big Apple gang war charged yesterday he's being cheated big-time by the maker of a popular video game based on the movie.
Roger Hill, who played Cyrus in the 1979 flick, "The Warriors," filed suit yesterday demanding $250,000 and a court order barring use of his likeness.
In the movie, the Warriors are a Coney Island-based street gang mistakenly accused of killing Hill's Messianic character at a Pelham Bay Park peace summit, right after he famously bellows, "Can you dig it."
As rival gangs dog the Warriors across the city, they taunt the Brooklyn crew along the way, "Warriors, come out and play."
Hill's suit in Manhattan Supreme Court contends game makers Take Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games Inc. have generated at least $37 million.
Hill, now working in a library at a Manhattan business college, also says the game makers once offered to pay for the use of his name and voice - then terminated negotiations after he rejected their initial offer.
But a Take Two spokesman called Hill's claim without merit.
The company "has a valid third-party license for the rights to use Roger Hill's likeness and the character of Cyrus in the 'Warriors' video game and related marketing materials," the spokesman said.
Hill and his lawyer had no comment yesterday.
Originally published on June 27, 2006
BY HELEN PETERSON and OWEN MORITZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Warriors, come out and play - in court.
A former actor who played a big-time gang leader in a cult movie about a Big Apple gang war charged yesterday he's being cheated big-time by the maker of a popular video game based on the movie.
Roger Hill, who played Cyrus in the 1979 flick, "The Warriors," filed suit yesterday demanding $250,000 and a court order barring use of his likeness.
In the movie, the Warriors are a Coney Island-based street gang mistakenly accused of killing Hill's Messianic character at a Pelham Bay Park peace summit, right after he famously bellows, "Can you dig it."
As rival gangs dog the Warriors across the city, they taunt the Brooklyn crew along the way, "Warriors, come out and play."
Hill's suit in Manhattan Supreme Court contends game makers Take Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games Inc. have generated at least $37 million.
Hill, now working in a library at a Manhattan business college, also says the game makers once offered to pay for the use of his name and voice - then terminated negotiations after he rejected their initial offer.
But a Take Two spokesman called Hill's claim without merit.
The company "has a valid third-party license for the rights to use Roger Hill's likeness and the character of Cyrus in the 'Warriors' video game and related marketing materials," the spokesman said.
Hill and his lawyer had no comment yesterday.
Originally published on June 27, 2006