I have never heard of James J. Braddock (real name Josip Knezevic) you can read more about the controversy at his website: http://www.thesoulshattering.net

http://crushable.com/entertainment/did- ... debut-152/

Did Angelina Jolie Steal Material For Her Upcoming Directorial Debut?

Angelina Jolie’s first effort as a director, In the Land of Milk and Honey, will come out in December of this year. The film, shot in 2010 using regional actors, tells a love story set during the Bosnian War. The film sparked controversy during its filming, and now Bosnian-Croatian writer named James J. Braddock has accused Angelina of stealing source material from his own novel.

Braddock’s book, The Soul Shattering, was published in three Balkan countries in 2007. Meant as a tribute to the women who suffered sexual abuse as a consequence of the war in Bosnia, the novel was written from Braddock’s first-person perspective as a reporter on the front lines of the conflict. According to the writer, accounts from people involved in Angelina’s film make it clear that Soul Shattering (parts of which have been translated into English) served as the base for AJ’s script.

More detrimental that this alleged thievery are criticisms that Angelina has been generally ignorant of the history she’s invoking in her story. Several Bosnian-Herzegovinian women’s groups protested its filming back in 2010. James Braddock said of the situation:

“The story is absurd and shows Ms. Jolie’s complete lack of knowledge of Bosnia-Herzegovina (and Croatia), particularly during the brutal Serbian aggression that started in 1990 and lasted for almost 6 years. In many ways Ms. Jolie is trying to ingratiate herself with the peoples living in Bosnia – people who never lived in ‘honey,’ but throughout the history remember ‘blood’ only.”

Angelina has stated that she wrote the script over a one-month period after finding herself flu-ridden and bored. Nowhere we’ve been able to track down has she explained where her knowledge of the conflict and characters came from.

The Soul Shattering is said to be coming out in English soon and Blood and Honey is only months away from release, so it will only become clearer how much of her script Angelina appropriated.

I hope as a director Angelina Jolie will do a great work on his movie...

An update on this apparently there are a lot more news outlets paying attention to this....

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/12/06/41973.htm

Croatian Writer Says Angelina Jolie Movie is Based on His Book
By GLYNIS FARRELL

CHICAGO (CN) - A Croatian journalist claims Angelina Jolie stole the plot from his book to make "In the Land of Blood and Honey," Jolie's directorial debut, about a love affair amid rape and abuse during the Bosnian Civil War.
James Braddock sued Jolie and the film's producers, GK Films and FilmDistrict, both of California; Scout Film, of Bosniia-Herzegovina; and executive producer Edin Sarkic, of Sarajevo, in Federal Court.
Braddock claims the defendants copied "key plot elements, themes, characters, events, sequences and settings" of "The Soul Shattering," his 2007 book about the abuse and rape suffered by the women and children of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the hands of Serbian soldiers.
Braddock, who lives in Zagreb, Croatia, describes himself as an internationally known author and journalist who worked as a reporter and commentator covering the Serbian attacks during the Bosnian War. "The Soul Shattering" was published in 2007 in the native language of Croatia.
Braddock claims Jolie and producer Edin Sarkic had access to his work before they made "In the Land of Blood and Honey."
Braddock says he traveled to Sarajevo in December 2007, to promote "The Soul Shattering" and to raise awareness of Bosnian war victims' organizations.
He says that Sarkic, an executive producer of Scout Film's Bosnian region, approached him expressing interest in his book.
"From March 2008 through November 2008, plaintiff and defendant Sarkic met at least three times to discuss details of the subject work, including plot and character development and the story's cultural significance and historical accuracy," the complaint states.
"These conversations evolved into pursuing the possibility of creating a motion picture from the subject work, which defendant Sarkic would produce through defendant Scout Film.
"Subsequent to these meetings, through 2008 and 2009, plaintiff and defendant Sarkic communicated extensively over the telephone and through text messages in attempts to continue the conversation about potentially creating a motion picture of the subject work.
"In or about August 2009, plaintiff emailed LaToya King at defendant Jolie's organization, Make it Right, and proposed a collaboration for 'Bridge of Love' whereby defendant Jolie would partner with plaintiff to build villages of houses across desolate cities, including Sarajevo and New Orleans, linking the continents, cities, and people of different racial and cultural backgrounds. Plaintiff sent this email without knowing of any partnership or communications between defendant Sarkic and defendant Jolie."
Jolie began filming "In the Land of Blood and Honey" in 2010 in the Bosnian region, with Starkic and Scout Films as the film's producers, Braddock says.
He claims the book and film share a raft of similarities: "The subject work's main female character is subject to continuous abuse and rape by soldiers and officers in the camp. In addition to being raped continuously by soldiers and officers, she is forced to become a servant at the camp's headquarters, a duty assumed by very few of the captives. The motion picture's main female character is also subject to continuous rape by soldiers and officers in the camp and subsequently becomes a servant at camp headquarters.
"In the subject work, the main male character struggles with the polarity of his emotions and his military duty; he loves the main female character but is expected to fulfill his duties as a high-ranking member of the army force. Amidst his struggle, he helps her escape from the camp. In the motion picture, the main male character also struggles with his love for the main female character and his duties as a high-ranking member of the army force. Like in the subject work, the main male character in the motion picture helps the main female character escape this camp."
Braddock seeks more than $50,000 in statutory damages for copyright infringement and an injunction to stop the release of Jolie's movie.
He is represented by Kelly Saindon with Belongia Shapiro & Franklin.

Another update: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article ... osnia-film

Angelina Jolie has rebutted the claims of Croat author Josip Knezevic, aka James J Braddock, that she used his book The Soul Shattering, as a basis for the scenario of her movie about the war in Bosnia, In the Land of Blood and Honey.

“It’s par for the course. It happens on almost every film,” she told the Los Angeles Times, referring to the dispute and explaining how she got the idea for the scenario.

“It’s a combination of many people’s stories. But that particular book I've never seen,” she said.

The Soul Shattering was published in December of 2007 in Croatia. Soon after the book was translated into English and a detailed synopsis of the storyline circulated all over the world in the hopes of getting additional exposure and having the book published in English, stated Braddock and his attorney.

Similarities between the two stories, Braddock’s and Jolie’s, are in a main female character who is a captured Muslim, imprisoned and raped by soldiers, and in a Serbian camp commander who falls in love with her and helps her to escape, struggling the whole time between his feeling and duties, the lawsuit says.

Jolie said there are several books and documentaries that she did draw on, citing work by journalists Peter Maas and Tom Gielten.

Knezevic has sued Jolie, her American producers and her Bosnian executive producer in the US Northern District Court of Illinois, claiming they infringed the copyrights of his book about an unlikely love story in war-torn Bosnia.

“I have had that scenario, based on a true story, since 1992,” Braddock told Balkan Insight.

Braddock referred to his alleged contacts with Edin Sarkic, Jolie's executive producers on In the Land of Blood and Honey, filmed this year in Bosnia and Hungary.

On his website and in the lawsuit, Braddock says they met several times in 2007 and 2008 and spoke about adapting his book into a screenplay.

Sarkic, owner of Scout film from Sarajevo, told Balkan Insight he had never met Braddock and he did not have that kind of collaboration with Jolie’s team, as he was only executive producor in Bosnia.

“I guess everyone is trying to get something from Angelina Jolie,” Sarkic told Balkan Insight.

In the Land of Blood and Honey premiered in New York on December 5. The Soul Shattering is about to be published in English by Tate Publishing.

Rumors always occurred when a star comes in the direction..



Same some rumors for the Angelina Jolie...

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_ne ... honey?lite

Judge: Angelina Jolie did not steal story for 'In the Land of Blood and Honey'
By Eriq Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter

Matt Sayles / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Angelina Jolie has been declared the winner in a lawsuit that alleges she stole work by Croatian journalist James Braddock to create her directorial debut, "In the Land of Blood and Honey."

The actress was sued just weeks before "Blood and Honey" hit theaters in late 2011. Braddock alleged that the film about a love affair during the Bosnian Civil War violates his copyright on a book, "The Soul Shattering." According to Braddock's lawsuit, one of the film's producers, Edin Sarkic, who has been credited in the press with helping Jolie attain the necessary permits to film in Sarajevo, had read "The Soul Shattering" and had discussions over the possibility of creating a film adaptation of the book.

But according to a tentative decision by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, the works are not substantially similar, and a result, Braddock has been ordered to show cause why the action should not be dismissed with prejudice.

Braddock's book "Slamanje Duse" was published in 2007, and it came out in shorter form in English under the title, "The Soul Shattering." His work is set in 1992 in a small Bosnian village and features a Croat who is married to a Muslim when their lives are interrupted by war. Ultimately, the strength of their love brings them back together.

Gee wrote, "Although 'Blood and Honey' is also a story of love, it highlights the complications of romantic love during wartime" between its protagonists -- a Muslim artist and a Serbian military soldier.

When analyzing the plot and sequence of both works, Gee noted some of the similarities including the fact that both include escape sequences and brutal rape scenes. But that's not enough. The judge says Braddock can't have claimed to have "invented the concept of rape as a war crime" and says that whatever similarities there are in this regard don't rise to substantial similarity, "particularly in light of the fact that those overlapping concepts are commonplace in books and films depicting war."

Similarly, when analyzing theme, the judge admits some similarity but stresses the differences. "'Blood and Honey' is primarily a story of betrayal, revenge and tragedy with little or no hope, while 'Slamanje Duse' focuses on family, love and strength."

In the decision, the judge continued by exploring dialogue, the mood and the characters of both works. Parallels were drawn and then rejected as falling short.

Braddock certainly is not the first to fail in making a case for copyright infringement. Many writers have sued Hollywood studios, and judges often place the bar quite high for plaintiffs to demonstrate substantial similarity. Ideas aren't protected, only expression. And then, there are limits to that. For example, the judge pointed out that "'Slamanje Duse' is based on the experiences of a real person and historical facts" but that certain details aren't entitled to copyright protection. That both works take place during the Bosnian War, which the judge notes is "a historical event that is well documented and widely known," doesn't really get Braddock anywhere in his claims that now seem destined to fail.

Jolie and other defendants were represented by Harrison Dossick and Christine Neuharth at Reed Smith.

“The Court’s tentative ruling was thorough and well reasoned," Dossick tells THR. "We are hopeful the court will adopt it in full when the final order is issued.”

Final ruling: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/ ... _Order.pdf

That was a happyend for Angelina Jolie. A really Hollywood story. Rich people always win.