Louis CK’s ‘I Love You, Daddy’ Leaks Online After Comic Buys Back Film

Ink was barely dry on comic’s deal with The Orchard when his film hit illegal torrent sites

Louis CK
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The latest trouble for Louis C.K.’s film “I Love You, Daddy”: The comedy-drama has been widely leaked on pirate torrent websites just days after the comic bought back the film from indie distributor The Orchard.

The piracy group Hive-CM8, which has made headlines in 2015 when it dumped dozens of Oscar-contending films on torrent sites from press screener DVDs before their release, claimed responsibility for the leak.

“We decided to let this one title go out this month, since it never made it to the cinema, and nobody knows if it ever will go to retail at all,” the group wrote in the file notes. “Either way their is no perfect time to release it anyway, but we think it would be a waste to let a great Louis C.K. go unwatched and nobody can even see or buy it.”

The Orchard had dropped “I Love You, Daddy,” — which C.K. directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in — from its release schedule on November 10, one day after the New York Times published a story in which five women accused the comedian of masturbating in front of them and other acts of sexual misconduct. (The comic said in a statement that the “stories are true,” and that he has “been remorseful” for his actions.)

But the distributor had already sent some awards screeners of the film — which is presumably the source of the leak.

C.K. agreed to buy back the film, which The Orchard bought for $5 million at the Toronto International Film Festival, and to pay back any money received as well as any marketing costs incurred by The Orchard.

 

The film, which also starred Chloe Grace Moretz, drew controversy due to several jokes about child rape and the use of racial slurs by C.K.’s character.

Reps for CK did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Hive-CM8’s 2015 dump 2015 dump of Oscar contenders — including “The Hateful Eight,” “The Revenant,” and Best Picture winner “Spotlight” –prompted an FBI investigation and an apology from the group.

However, Hive-CM8 said the following year that they would continue to leak screeners, albeit after their release in theaters.

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