Michael Keaton being sued over diva antics

Michael Keaton is being sued by the producers of a film he directed and starred in, who are accusing him of causing the project to fail.

Merry Gentleman LLC, a company which was formed specially for the film, called 'The Merry Gentleman', claim that his behaviour contributed to the film bombing at the box office.

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The 2009 drama starred Keaton as a suicidal hitman striking up an unlikely relationship with the troubled wife of an abusive policeman, played by Kelly Macdonald.

The company, which dropped $4 million into the film – and got back just $322,581 (£210,027) at the box office – says that Keaton was difficult to work with from the beginning, according to TMZ.

After they built a special editing facility for Keaton in California, they claim he then deserted the production to go fly-fishing in Montana, and then demanded they re-build another facility for him there.

It's said that he later called his first cut of the film 'a piece of crap', but then reacted angrily when producers re-cut it without his permission, threatening to use his connections to have it removed from the bill of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival unless they used one of his versions.

The claimants also accuse him of being 'less than enthusiastic' when the time came to promote the film.

The company is seeking damages from the former Batman for the box office calamity, likely to be in the millions.

Keaton has yet to respond to the accusations.