The Worst Way to Appear in a Movie: Irina Krupnik’s Complaint
Irina Krupnik/Joonbug.com
A woman named Irina Krupnik posed for what seemed like an innocent photo on the beach almost 10 years ago. Now she’s suing NBC Universal for defamation and invasion of privacy. You’d feel invaded too if you discovered that Jon Favreau spanked it to your photo in a movie as spectacularly shitty as Couples Retreat.
In February of 2001, Irina Krupnik, then a 21-year-old model, posed for a photo shoot at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, modeling “tasteful swimwear in a beach setting.” Krupnik admits in court papers that she signed a release granting rights to the photos to Sunshine Media Corp, which was later bought by All Star Media. Eventually, Krupnik’s beach bikini pic became one of those stock photos you probably see all over the Web – the equivalent, at times, to visual white noise.
Unfortunately, someone at Universal Studios purchased the stock photo to use as a prop in the Vince Vaughn “comedy” vehicle Couples Retreat, which opened in 2009 and recently went to video, after good box office and almost universally crappy reviews.
Krupnik’s photo was used in a fake glossy ad for a beach resort in the movie. The same fake glossy that Jon Favreau’s character uses as wank material. The description of the scene in court papers filed by Irina Krupnik’s attorneys with the New York Supreme Court does a masterful job of leeching away whatever comedy was intended in Favreau’s on-screen wank-off and leaving a scene that is profoundly disturbing – more worthy of Harvey Keitel playing a bad lieutenant, perhaps:
In that scene, the actor Jon Favreau, playing a character at least twice the age of Ms. Krupnik in the photo, waits until his wife leaves their hotel room before lifting his sleeveless T-shirt over his prominent belly. He then liberally lubricates himself while leering at the image of the youthful Ms. Krupnik on a beach a scenario apparently intended to be humorous.
Apparently so. Rendered in these legal documents it becomes something akin to the sort of experience that might leave the moviegoer curled up, twitching and whimpering, fully-clothed in a hot, hot shower.
Irina Krupnik seems to have had such a reaction. As the court papers state, “the very juxtaposition of the wholesome image of a healthy 21-year-old woman on a beach, with Mr. Favreau’s much older, dessicated and overweight character creeping around his darkened hotel room to pleasure himself” is supposed to be funny, but it would be “a crime if Mr. Favreau attempted it on a New York City subway.” And Irina Krupnik didn’t anticipate anything like that when she signed the release for those images.
For what she says has been “great humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress, shame, mortification and injury to her reputation and career,” Irina Krupnik is seeking damages that will be determined in court. The actors who appeared in the film are expected to follow her lead and sue Universal for the exact same reasons. [CNS PDF]
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The Worst Way to Appear in a Movie: Irina Krupnik’s Complaint
Irina Krupnik/Joonbug.com
A woman named Irina Krupnik posed for what seemed like an innocent photo on the beach almost 10 years ago. Now she’s suing NBC Universal for defamation and invasion of privacy. You’d feel invaded too if you discovered that Jon Favreau spanked it to your photo in a movie as spectacularly shitty as Couples Retreat.
In February of 2001, Irina Krupnik, then a 21-year-old model, posed for a photo shoot at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, modeling “tasteful swimwear in a beach setting.” Krupnik admits in court papers that she signed a release granting rights to the photos to Sunshine Media Corp, which was later bought by All Star Media. Eventually, Krupnik’s beach bikini pic became one of those stock photos you probably see all over the Web – the equivalent, at times, to visual white noise.
Unfortunately, someone at Universal Studios purchased the stock photo to use as a prop in the Vince Vaughn “comedy” vehicle Couples Retreat, which opened in 2009 and recently went to video, after good box office and almost universally crappy reviews.
Krupnik’s photo was used in a fake glossy ad for a beach resort in the movie. The same fake glossy that Jon Favreau’s character uses as wank material. The description of the scene in court papers filed by Irina Krupnik’s attorneys with the New York Supreme Court does a masterful job of leeching away whatever comedy was intended in Favreau’s on-screen wank-off and leaving a scene that is profoundly disturbing – more worthy of Harvey Keitel playing a bad lieutenant, perhaps:
Apparently so. Rendered in these legal documents it becomes something akin to the sort of experience that might leave the moviegoer curled up, twitching and whimpering, fully-clothed in a hot, hot shower.
Irina Krupnik seems to have had such a reaction. As the court papers state, “the very juxtaposition of the wholesome image of a healthy 21-year-old woman on a beach, with Mr. Favreau’s much older, dessicated and overweight character creeping around his darkened hotel room to pleasure himself” is supposed to be funny, but it would be “a crime if Mr. Favreau attempted it on a New York City subway.” And Irina Krupnik didn’t anticipate anything like that when she signed the release for those images.
For what she says has been “great humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress, shame, mortification and injury to her reputation and career,” Irina Krupnik is seeking damages that will be determined in court. The actors who appeared in the film are expected to follow her lead and sue Universal for the exact same reasons. [CNS PDF]