Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson has won damages in a French court from a novelist for his “hurtful and demeaning” depiction of a character who resembled her.
French author Grégoire Delacourt was ordered on Wednesday to pay €2,500 (£2,000) to Johansson for creating a lookalike character who is treated as a sex object. The court considered this an invasion of privacy.
According to the Local, the first part of the book is told through the eyes of a garage mechanic who “resembles a better version of Ryan Gosling” and thinks the book’s heroine is Johansson when she turns up on his doorstep.
The character is involved in a series of amorous relationships which prosecutor Vincent Toledano claimed “never existed.”
However, the court rejected Johansson’s claims for €50,000 (£40,000) damages for fraudulent use of her name, image and reputation to promote the book, “The First Thing We Look At,” which has sold 100,000 copies since it was published last year.
An application by the actress for an injunction to stop the novel being translated or adapted for the cinema was also rejected by the court.
Johansson’s lawyer said he was “extremely please” with the verdict, while Delacourt’s defence team called the compensation “derisory.”