Actors from ‘Slap Shot’ at Odds with Screenwriter Over Appearance Rights
Three hockey players who played the Hanson brothers 33 years ago in the comedy Slap Shot are still making professional appearances, to the consternation of the screenwriter.
Nancy Dowd, who wrote the movie based on the real-life experiences of her brother, told the New York Times that she owns the rights to live representation, and the Hanson brothers appearances are illegal. “We’ve put them on notice and sent a letter to their lawyer,” she asserted.
Dowd said she is concerned because the players aren’t portraying the Hansons as she created them. “The Hansons were innocent goons,” she told the Times. “Not some dirty old guys in wigs. They tell dirty-old-man jokes. I find it offensive.”
One of the hockey player-actors, Dave Hanson, told the newspaper the group’s shows are “colorful and lighthearted” and he doesn’t know what Dowd means by dirty-old man jokes. The group makes appearances at ice rinks, golf outings and Slap Shot screenings, the story says.
Hanson now manages a college sports complex. The other hockey player-actors are Jeff Carlson, now an electrician in Michigan, and Steve Carlson, who runs a hockey school in New York. The Carlsons are the real brothers who inspired the movie’s Hanson brothers, Yahoo Sports reports.
