Uh, perhaps if you were worried about your reputation you shouldn’t have committed illegal acts like kidnapping and extortion.
Willem Holleeder, a major figure in Dutch crime, is suing (from jail, mind you) to prevent the release of The Heineken Kidnapping, an upcoming film which depicts the real-life 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, the president of the titular brewery company, which lead to a three-week ordeal. Rutger Hauer stars as Freddy. Holleeder was involved in the kidnapping and spent eleven years in prison, after which he returned to crime, which is why he’s currently back in prison. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Holleeder “disagrees with the potrayal of his character in the film” and believes that it could hurt his reputation. Though I’m not expert in Dutch law, if it’s anything like American law I assume that this case doesn’t have much of a chance (you don’t see a lot of real-life figures that are portrayed in gangster movies sue over their portrayal over here, do you?) This also suggests that Holleeder has actually seen the film already, which is odd since it hasn’t been released yet.
The Heineken Kidnapping is set for an October 27 release in the Netherlands, so Holleeder’s lawyers better act quickly. Still, Holleeder isn’t scheduled for release until 2015, so perhaps if he doesn’t get the film blocked the bad publicity will blow over by then. But his reputation still has to answer for, you know, the other bad stuff he did.
No American release date has been set for the film, but the trailer looks awesome (albeit in a different language), so I hope it makes it stateside at some point! Check the trailer out below:
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