ßüякε;2382296 said:
There's no way.
That's like suing the people that made Jarhead saying it was based on you because you were a Marine Sniper and never got an attempt to shoot anyone in the first Gulf War.
There are release clauses and small type for shit like this.
Except that Jarhead is based on the guy who wrote it.
This is completely different, Boal was with the unit and wrote an article, then went on to write a screenplay based on those experiences. He probably didn't get the consent of the unit he travelled with because 1) they were still in Iraq when the movie was written, when he was with the unit he was doing an article. It was unlikely that Boal realized 5 years later he'd have a Best Picture winner. 2) he probably didn't think he'd need to get consent since the film didn't gain a distributor until this past summer, remember the film was released September of 2008.
Now that it's made some money I think there will be a small settlement (most likely paid by distributer) out of court. The Hurt Locker hasn't pulled anywhere near to Avatar's number, but this guy will probably get a couple million.