[Source: AP]

It was a true story stranger than fiction: The body of England’s King Richard III, missing for centuries, was discovered under a parking lot after a search spearheaded by amateur sleuths.

Now a movie about the saga has been accused of stretching the truth too far.

The producers of “The Lost King” on Monday agreed to pay damages to an academic who sued for libel over his on-screen depiction.

Richard Taylor said he suffered “enormous distress and embarrassment” because of the 2022 film, which centers on amateur historian Philippa Langley’s quest to find the king’s remains despite what the movie depicts as indifference and condescension from the academic world.

A judge at a preliminary hearing last year said the film portrayed Taylor, the former deputy registrar at the University of Leicester, as “smug, unduly dismissive and patronizing.”

The case had been due to go to a full trial, but on Monday a lawyer for Taylor announced that the dispute had been settled. Attorney William Bennett said the defendants — actor-writer Steve Coogan, Coogan’s production company Baby Cow and Pathé Productions — had agreed to pay Taylor “substantial damages” and legal costs. The amount was not disclosed.

The defendants said they would also add an on-screen clarification at the start of the film stating that the depiction is “fictional and does not represent the actions of the real Mr. Taylor.”

Taylor, who is now chief operating officer at Loughborough University, said the settlement was vindication after “a long and grueling battle.”

“There have been moments over the last three years when I thought, when Philippa Langley approached me for the university’s support, I perhaps should have put the request in the bin,” he said. “But I didn’t, and I think I was right not to do that.”

Coogan, who co-wrote “The Lost King” and played Langley’s ex-husband, insisted that “this film is a true story, Philippa Langley’s story. That is the story I wanted to tell, and I am happy I did.

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