A soulful instrumental wafts through the emptying theater aisles, accompanying the rolling credits at the end of Double Jeopardy, Hollywood’s latest legal-oriented thriller. But the melody has struck a decidedly sour note in Don Henley’s ears. And the singer-songwriter has struck back with a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures that claims the studio reneged on a more than $1 million deal for him to write a ballad that was supposed to be heard as the movie’s ending theme song.
For reasons that Henley’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, finds “unfathomable,” Paramount shelved Henley’s song shortly before the film’s release and replaced it with an instrumental mix produced at the studio. Imagine that! A studio having the final word — uh, make that the final tune — on one of its movies.
