Two fans of Ana de Armas ask Universal for five million to eliminate her from the movie ‘Yesterday’

Two fans of the Spanish-Cuban actress Ana de Armas have presented a lawsuit against Universal Pictures for “false advertising” in the movie ‘Yesterday’, released in 2019.

According to ‘Variety’, Conor Woulfe and Peter Michael Rosza point out in the complaint that the actress appeared in the trailers for the filma, although later, and after paying $3.99 on Amazon to see the film, the actress did not appear for a second in the footage.

“Among other deceptions, Defendant’s national publicity and promotion of the film Yesterday represents to potential viewers of the film that world-famous actress Ana De Armas has a substantial role in the film’s character. However, defendant Yesterday’s film does not include any appearance by Ana De Armas. Accordingly, Defendant’s advertising and promotion of the film Yesterday is false and misleading,” the two fans’ lawsuit reads.

De Armas’s scene was cut from the film, according to screenwriter Richard Curtis, because she was going to play an actress with whom the main character, Jack (Himesh Patel), has a mutual attraction, and because Jack already has a committed relationship with Ellie (Lily James), the public was not going to like the flirtation with De Arma’s characters.

Woulfe and Rosza further argue that Universal was trying to use De Armas’ star power to promote the movie because Himesh Patel and Lily James were “a name relatively unknown to the moviegoer”. Therefore, they demand the amount of five million dollars on behalf of the affected consumers.

Patel had appeared for years on the long-running British show EastEnders, but not much else. James, however, by 2019 and had had notable roles in Darkest Hour, Baby Driver, Mama Mia and, on television, Downton Abbey.

Despite that, the lawsuit contends: “Unable to rely on the fame of the actors playing Jack Malik or Ellie to maximize ticket and movie sales and rentals, Defendant accordingly used Mrs. De Armas’ fame, glitz and brilliance to promote the film by including her scenes in the film’s trailers announcing Yesterday.”