Kevin Smith has pulled out of the Buckaroo Banzai TV series he was developing for MGM (see “Kevin Smith Developing ‘Buckaroo Banzai’”), after he discovered on Monday that the company had filed suit against the creators of the original film, director W.D. Richter and writer Earl Mac Rauch.  Smith posted the news in a Facebook video in which he said of the project, “Respectfully, I’m out.”

Smith said he saw a Hollywood Reporter article about the lawsuit on Monday, which was the first he was aware of it.  The article describes a lengthy dispute between Richter and Rauch, who assert that MGM only bought limited rights to make the original film, and MGM, which claims the pair did their work on the original film on a work for hire basis.  MGM is asking the court to declare that it owns the copyrights, that Richter and Rauch can’t prevent a new TV series from being made, and that they’re barred from asserting any ownership rights. 

Smith’s loyalty to the creators supercedes his relationship with Amazon, which had placed script orders for the series, and MGM, which was producing it.  “The only reason I love Buckaroo Banzai is because of those two guys,” he said.  “I wanted to involve them….  I don’t want to make anything unless those dudes are involved…. I’m not that guy.”

So while he spoke very positively about both Amazon and MGM, and went out of his way to say that he wasn’t criticizing MGM for the action it took, Smith also made clear that he didn’t want to be involved at this point.  He did leave the door open for getting involved again if Richter and Rauch and MGM came to an agreement on the rights and still wanted him at that point.