The actor Paz de la Huerta, best known for Gaspar Noé’s “psychedelic melodrama” Enter the Void and the TV series Boardwalk Empire, is suing the makers of trashy horror film Nurse 3D for $55m, claiming the 2014 box office turkey destroyed her career, according to TMZ.
De la Huerta played a murderous nurse who delights in killing off cheating men in the low budget sexploitation flick. The $10m film achieved just a limited release in cinemas, earning only $5,000, and was swiftly released via video on demand. Now its star claims the film ruined her Hollywood career, claiming she made up to $2m a year prior to its release but has struggled since.
The 30-year-old actor reportedly claims her travails began after she suffered a spinal fracture during a scene involving a speeding ambulance which accidentally struck her. She then threatened to file a compensation claim against studio Lionsgate, which according to the suit led to the American actor being targeted by director Doug Aarniokoski for ill treatment.
A voice actor was allegedly brought in to dub De la Huerta’s lines in the ambulance scene and other parts of the film. According to TMZ, the New York-based star is now asking for the film to be redubbed with her own voice.
Nurse 3D received middling reviews on release but does not appear to have been seen widely enough by professionals to merit a place on traditional lists of famously bad movies. In fact, it boasts a middling 55% “rotten” rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, indicating that more than half of critics liked it.
Since starring in the film, De la Huerta has found work in the indie drama Bare and in forthcoming bloody gangland tale Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins, which is due in cinemas in 2016.
