A few weeks ago we brought you the news that The Human Centipede: Final Sequence was underway, with Tom Six welcoming previous stars Dieter Laser and Laurence Harvey back to the fold. But it now seems that all is not going quite according to plan: Laser appears to have pulled out, and Six is preparing a lawsuit.
There's much speculation that this is all a publicity stunt designed to keep the threequel in the spotlight. Whether that's the case or not (and if it is, it's working, since, well, here we are), what's emerged so far is fightin' talk.
The first service predictably came from Six, in a tweet (in shouty capitals) that goes thusly: "BREAKING NEWS: MY COMPANY WILL SUE ACTOR DIETER LASER!!! WORLDWIDE PRESS RELEASE WILL FOLLOW SHORTLY".
Said announcement came from producer Ilona Six (Tom's sister), who told Fangoria: "Because of the success of The Human Centipede, it seems that Mr Dieter Laser’s ego has grown to laughably big proportions. First signing the contract and rating the Human Centipede 3 script as fantastic, and then demanding his own unacceptable script changes, and now refusing to play the part only seven weeks prior to shooting. Six Entertainment Company will start legal action against Dieter Laser. Tom Six says not to worry; principal photography will be postponed and will take place later this year."
Laser then volleyed with a statement to the German site Screen Read: "It’s very simple: I loved the story when I was told it, got the contract and the promise to have the script in four to six weeks. When it arrived – half a year later and only after the official announcement – I didn’t like the realization at all, couldn’t identify with the character the way it was written, and developed immediately and enthusiastically, in a day and night marathon, a version full of concrete and practical suggestions which would enable me to play the lead full throttle. This is the same procedure as with [the first film's] Dr Heiter, but this time it also would have had some unavoidable effects to the dramatic structure. That was too much for Tom and since he couldn’t live with my suggestions and I as a method actor couldn’t identify with his version, I told him that I couldn’t see any other way than that he would have to ‘change horses’. That’s it."
We've speculated previously that it's possible that Laser and Harvey would be playing "themselves" in the film (given that the second film involved a character that was obsessed with the first), so it sounds plausible that Six cooked up a "Dieter Laser" that the real Laser disapproved of. We're interested that Laser mentions playing the lead...
Still, it's difficult to know what to believe, so looking for other clues is probably the road to madness. Human Centipede: Final Sequence, which Six promised us last year would make the infamous Full Sequence "look like a Disney movie", is clearly not underway just yet after all. We'll let you know how the saga develops.