Remember that lawsuit that Jessica Barnes posted about in February? To recap -- there was this big blockbuster film, or rather, there was this movie that filmmakers hoped would be a big hit -- Sahara. While it might have had a short rule in the box office, the movie pretty much flopped. Grossing less than $70 million, and having a budget of almost twice that, well, it leaves a bunch of people angry and disappointed. So, we've got the author of the original novel, Clive Cussler, blaming the producers, Crusader Entertainment. They, in turn, are counter-suing that the author not only badmouthed them in the press, but that he also made racial slurs during production.

The trial has been underway for a while now, and jurors have heard testimony from screenwriters, executives and lawyers about the doomed film's struggles. The latest in the parade -- director Breck Eisner. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he says that he was aware that it had some problems, but knew that he could "nail this film" and had no idea how big the problems were. Not only that, but he thought that this would be the beginning of a film franchise, just like Indiana Jones! I'm not sure why Eisner would think that he could take a movie that he knew had problems, and make it into a huge, unforgettable blockbuster franchise. Youthful exuberance? Naive hope? He was replacing Rob Bowman, and had a script that went through tons of revisions and tons of screenwriters. That's not really a solid base to start from. Oh well. No big franchise for him. However, he does have the Creature from the Black Lagoon in development, but that news just makes me wish that Sahara had done well. I don't want anyone touching my beloved monster movie!

I've always thought that the $64,000 question in the movie business is who's to blame when you make a flop? Ropes of Silicon reported that the author of the best-selling Dirk Pitt adventure novel Sahara, Clive Cussler, has decided to place the blame squarely on the producers.

Sahara starred the permanently mellow Matthew McConaughey as Pitt and Penélope Cruz as possibly the most glamorous UN investigator in history. Budgeted at $145 million, the film failed to ignite the franchise that everyone was hoping for. Cussler is suing the producer Philip Anschutz (and his company Crusader Entertainment) for violating his rights of approval over the script and other elements of the film. Anschutz is counter-suing, claiming that Cussler bad-mouthed the film in the press and made racial slurs during production (Cussler denied these allegations).

Jury selection is already underway and the trial is expected to begin later this week. An article in the LA Times back in December quoted Cussler as saying "They deceived me right from the beginning. They kept lying to me ... and I just got fed up with it." Between the thousands of pages of emails, memos, and affidavits that allegedly show the production spiraling out of control and a witness list that includes McConaughey and the film's director Breck Eisner; it looks like there's going to be plenty of blame to go around.