Denver author and filmmaker Julian Rubinstein, who wrote the nonfiction book “The Holly” and directed the documentary based on it, is being sued for defamation along with the book’s publisher and the film’s Oscar-winning executive producer, Adam McKay, according to a lawsuit served in Denver this month.
The legal claim first appeared on May 10 and was amended on July 14 after the release of the documentary, which debuted on the festival circuit atweeks earlier. The creative team was served papers earlier this month, Rubinstein said. The award-winning documentary is based on Rubinstein’s 2021 nonfiction book “The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood,” which investigates Denver’s gang scene — specifically, the Bloods-controlled Northeast Park Hill neighborhood. It’s anchored in a profile of, and shooting by, anti-gang activist Terrance Roberts,.
Just before its premiere, producers of “The Holly” movie announced Oscar-winning director McKay had joined the already-completed project as executive producer through his company Hyperobject Industries. While the book was busy being praised in June