When the movie came out, it was described by almost everyone as an adaptation of Henry James' 1897 novel of the same name. But according to Ronee Sue Blakley, the film wasn't so much inspired by 19th-century American literature as a late 20th-century custody fight.
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Blakley is a musician and actress best known for an Academy Award-nominated role in Robert Altman's Nashville. In the 1980s, she had a romantic relationship with Carroll Cartwright. Together, they had a daughter, Sarah, and then a legal battle over the child that lasted more than a decade.
Cartwright would go on to co-write What Maisie Knew, about a young girl who becomes a pawn in a bitter fight between her mother (played by Julianne Moore) and her father (played by Steve Coogan). Moore has described her character Susanna as an abusive mother who neglects her child.
Cue Blakley's new $3 million defamation claim against Cartwright.