WASHINGTON, 26 March 2005 — Of late, there has been a trend of plagiarism among high-visibility authors and publishers. The best-known examples involves Stephen Ambrose, author of the definitive biography of US General Dwight Eisenhower and several histories of World War II, and Doris Kearns Goodwin, a presidential scholar who authored many books about US presidents. Both were found to have stolen texts from other published works.

Now, the entertainment industry is embarrassed by allegations that the screenplay for 20th Century Fox feature film, “Kingdom of Heaven,” starring Orlando Bloom, Liam Nelson and Jeremy Irons, was plagiarized from the book, “Warriors of God,” by James Reston.

Reston’s book and the Fox movie deal with the Third Crusade, 1187 to 1192 AD, which is considered by many scholars to be the most intriguing of all the crusades. The book and film both focus on the huge military effort that brought together Salah Al-Din, the Sultan of Egypt, Syria, Arabia, and Mesopotamia; and Richard the Lionhearted, King of Great Britain.

According to Reston, the collision between these giants in a grand holy tournament still reverberates in the today’s Middle East, and in ongoing conflicts between Christians and Muslims throughout the world.

The author of 13 books, including, Galileo: A Life, The Last Apocalypse, and Warriors of God, have been translated into ten foreign languages. Reston spoke to Arab News by telephone before leaving on a speaking engagement in the Middle East. He said his fascination with the Crusades began before he started his research, but admits he “got stuck” on the Third Crusade “because of their fabulous characters.”

“Much of my historical work has attempted to tell stories that have modern relevance, and here the relevance I immediately saw regarded the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Reston said.

The prolific author said that as researched his book he began to see a kind of metaphor about the clash between “the West and the Arab word, a clash of Christianity and Islam.”

“Warriors of God” was published in May 2001, months prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. “This book had an incredible trajectory right after September 11. The American people were trying out to read anything about the Arab world and Islam, and especially the clash of the civilization with the Arab world.” Reston said he sold a lot of books, and was surprised with its influence.

The New York Times reported that in January 2002 “Warriors of God” was one of three books that political adviser Karl Rove recommended President George Bush read to understand the political and military context of tensions in the Middle East.

Reston said that because the book was doing well, there was talk about the book being made into a film. Eventually, Mike Medavoy, purchased the film rights. Medavoy, producer of: “Platoon,” “Annie Hall” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” has won 7 Academy Awards, and operates a film company called Phoenix Pictures.

According to Reston, Medavoy learned that Ridley Scott (director of “Gladiator,” and “Master and Commander”) was also interested in doing a crusade film, and “Medavoy made an overture to him with my book. He gave him my book and proposed that they go into business and make a film together.”

Several months later, Reston said Scott contacted Medavoy to decline, saying he had decided to make the movie about the Crusades, alone.

Reston said he accepted the news and thought nothing more of it until last year, when he was in Spain working on a book scheduled to be released this summer. It was there he learned that Ridley Scott was filming his crusade movie in Spain and Morocco.

“It means he won the race (to make a film about the Crusades), but I was still under the illusion that the story was different than mine,” said Reston.

He says he was shocked when he returned home and opened the New York Times Aug. 12 edition “and there was a big story about Scott’s forthcoming movie on the Third Crusade. It was a thunderbolt, I realized that Scott had used the material in my book without my permission.”

He immediately called Medavoy, who “tried to be comforting but didn’t know if anything could be done.”

Reston said because Scott’s film was “already in the can,” it ended the chance for his book to be turned into a film. “There certainly wasn’t any need for another Third Crusades movie, so my association ended with Medavoy in October.”

In November of last year, Reston said he obtained a copy of Scott’s script and was stunned with what he read. “Scott’s movie is called, ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ which is the title of the second chapter of my book.

“The entire second half of the movie basically relies on the major scenes of the first 103 pages of my book, ‘Warriors of God,’” said Reston. “The movie’s dramatic structure is based entirely on the first 100 pages of my book.”

Reston hired a lawyer whose law firm carefully examined the movie script and his book scenes. “They also concluded that I had been ripped off. It’s a bald-faced theft of my intellectual property,” said Reston.

Reston said the Arab world should be very concerned by the way it is portrayed in Hollywood. “This will be the first of many, many films coming out of Hollywood that will treat American and Western and Christian and Muslim people in the context of an American crusade in Iraq and the Arab world.”

Reston’s lawyer, Timothy DeBaets, a partner at Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard, sent a letter to 20th Century Fox informing them of the alleged plagiarism.

DeBaets, who also spoke to Arab News by phone, said William Monahan, the scriptwriter Scott employed, was “caught plagiarizing Reston’s book.”

DeBaets said there are many odd bits to this story, including the fact that Medavoy gave Reston’s book to Scott — the competition — to begin with.

When asked what evidence they have to make such statements, DeBaets said: “Once you compare the book and read their script, it’s quite clear Scott and Monahan used Jim’s book.”

DeBaets gave Arab News a copy of a letter the lawyers at 20th Century Fox sent to DeBaets, in response to his charges of plagiarism.

The Fox lawyers say the creators of ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ “did not even read ‘Warriors of God,’ much less copy it.” Adding, “solely for the sake of argument, even if your client’s book had been the source of some of the facts in our screenplay, your client would have no claim. Facts cannot be protected.”

The 5-page letter from Fox concludes: “Fox believes your client’s claim to be without merit, and rejects his demands.”

DeBaets said he and his client, Reston, are considering a lawsuit — not only in the US, but also in a number of key countries. This is significant, he said, because of different jurisdictions for each country.

“Ridley Scott is British. He has a company in Los Angeles, but they’re based in the UK This is a film that could be shown though the Middle East and certainly throughout the Western world,” said DeBaets. “Many countries require a copyright claim in their country to stop distribution of the film.

“In the US, judges will not stop a major film about to be released. But internationally, things are different. In France, they tend to be more protective of the writer and will defend their rights,” said DeBaets.

Telephone calls by Arab News to Twentieth Century Fox lawyers were not returned.

As for “Kingdom of Heaven,” the movie is due to be released in May. A trailer of the film can be seen at: http://www.kingdomofheavenmovie.com

But DeBaets cautions: “Remember when you see it, it’s all about copyright infringement.”