Toronto Film Festival pulls 'London Fields' amid ownership spat

The Toronto International Film Festival has pulled the Friday night premiere of London Fields after director Matthew Cullen filed a lawsuit claiming the noir film's producers had added "incendiary imagery" without his approval.

The film, based on a Martin Amis novel of same name, stars Billy Bob Thornton and was due to be shown on Friday night and then Saturday and Sunday afternoons. All have been cancelled.

"With uncertainty surrounding the creative vision of the version of the film scheduled to be screened on September 18, we feel it is only appropriate that we remove this film" from the festival's lineup, TIFF said in a statement. Cullen filed the lawsuit late on Tuesday claiming that producer Chris Hanley and associates had "secretly prepared their own version of the film" to lace it with violent imagery, according to the New York Times.

The lawsuit said the added material included "incendiary imagery evoking 9/11 jumpers edited against pornography," the Times said. "In its present form, the narrative is intercut with images of a predatory drone, nuclear blasts, a person tumbling from a World Trade Centre tower, and what appears to be a gathering in Mecca," the Times said after an earlier screening for media and industry.

The Toronto festival earlier had to cancel screenings of the Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace after the singer filed an injunction against its producers.