Victor Miller knows nothing about LeBron James producing Friday the 13th

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise is currently at a standstill as the original film's producer/director Sean S. Cunningham and the film's screenwriter Victor Miller have taken each other to court to figure out who should hold the rights to the movie in the United States. U.S. copyright law says writers can get the rights to their work back 35 years after granting them to someone else. If Miller came up with what's in the FRIDAY THE 13TH script on his own, the copyright would be his. If it was just a "work for hire" job, it would be Cunningham's. Last year, a judge decided that Miller deserved the copyright. Cunningham filed an appeal. The appeal was recently withdrawn, but that was apparently due to a technicality and there's a chance it could be re-filed if a settlement isn't made instead. So this is an ongoing ordeal.

While some fans have painted Miller as a villain in this scenario, and some people even gone so far overboard that they sent him death threats when it was revealed that the lawsuit would keep any new content from being added to the recent video game, Miller is just doing what the law says he can do. He's seeking the copyright of his work.

We haven't heard much from Miller since tempers started flaring over the lawsuit, but YouTuber IAnthonyD was recently able to get an interview with him. This interview is embedded below, and it's a nice chat with Miller that looks back at the writing of the first film while being hopeful for the future of the franchise. It seems like he is just as in-the-dark as fans are, as the lawsuit is entirely in the hands of his lawyer and he's just waiting to hear some good news about it. He may not be a fan of the franchise that spawned from the movie he wrote, to this day he has only seen "one and a half" of the sequels, but he respects the fans who do appreciate the follow-ups.

When asked what he would do with the franchise if given the chance, he expresses interest in writing a prequel and a remake/reboot of the first movie – those are the stories and characters he knows. He thinks a sequel would probably be better off in the hands of a different writer.

From the way he talks, it sounds like settlement negotiations are actually happening at this point, he's just not part of them. That's all being worked on by lawyers behind closed doors. It also sounds like there have been disagreements over some terms, as he mentions others parties not wanting to "part with a cent". According to Miller, previous statements that claimed he had refused to talk about a settlement with Horror Inc. were not true.

The talk ends with Miller being asked about reports of basketball player LeBron James' production company SpringHill Entertainment teaming with IT producers Vertigo Entertainment to produce a new FRIDAY THE 13TH movie. Miller confirms he has seen those reports, 

I have and I don't know what it means."

This is especially interesting to me, because those reports implied that Miller was the one who took the project to SpringHill and Vertigo, supposedly as a way to nudge Horror Inc. into making a deal with him. No one at SpringHill or Vertigo has commented on their involvement with FRIDAY THE 13TH, though James did toy with us by wearing a hockey mask to a game soon after those reports came out. If Miller didn't take the project to them, Horror Inc. must have, as I first assumed… This is quite a confusing mess.

Regardless of whether it was Miller or Horror Inc. who approached SpringHill and Vertigo, it's clear that neither side knows exactly what's going on with this lawsuit or how it's going to turn out. And no F13 projects can move forward until the lawsuit is resolved. So the producers at SpringHill and Vertigo just have to sit back to wait and see what's going to happen, just like Miller, and just like the rest of us.