Sir Sean sues film company for

SIR Sean Connery is suing a Hollywood production company for £11 million over claims it backed out of a film deal.

The former James Bond star alleges that Mandalay Entertainment Group and its chairman, Peter Guber, misled him about their ability to finance End Game, an action thriller which he had agreed to star in and produce.

Sir Sean, 72, was first approached in 1999 about playing a CIA agent, and was encouraged to spend "considerable time, effort and money" in developing the project, according to a lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The actor says he reached an agreement with the company to be paid his going rate of £11 million for starring in the film. He then brought in Rhona Tollefson, the head of his production company, Fountainbridge, to oversee the project.

Sir Sean and Ms Tollefson agreed to be paid £160,000 for production and began working the script. The star claims he continued working on the script and turned down other offers to concentrate on End Game. Sir Sean and Tollefson also looked for co-stars and directors.

The lawsuit alleges that when he began meeting directors in the hope of starting production earlier this year, "Mandalay and Guber suddenly refused to co-operate and simply cut off all communications".

It is also alleged the film company strung Sir Sean along for two years "in an attempt to hold themselves out to the entertainment industry" as a viable production firm. But Mandalay was nothing more than a "house of cards" that kept a "fictional slate" of movies to induce other stars and directors to sign on for other projects, it adds.

A spokesman for Mandalay said: "We are confident in our position that the claims are frivolous and without any merit." Mr Guber has produced box office hits, including Rain Man and Batman.

No date has yet been set for the trial.