MGM files lawsuit to stop "Raging Bull" sequel

(CBS News) Producers trying to make a sequel to Martin Scorsese's classic film "Raging Bull" are being taken to court by MGM.

The studio has filed a seven-page complaint against former boxer Jake LaMotta and RB II Productions, seeking to have production on the film, which is currently shooting in Los Angeles, shut down, reports Deadline.

LaMotta told CBS News in a telephone interview, "We're working it out right now. It's all a big misunderstanding."

"Raging Bull" hit theaters in 1980. MGM claims that LaMotta does not have the authority to give RB II Productions rights to his 1986 sequel book without first offering it to MGM.  The studio cites a 1976 agreement that gave it rights to LaMotta's 1970 memoir and any "owner-written sequel."  

The studio is seeking damages "awarded in an amount sufficient to punish the RB II defendants and to deter those who would commit or knowingly seek to profit from similar actions, now or in the future," according to Deadline.