Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has instructed lawyers to sue the makers of the film "Welcome to New York," which had a private screening on the sidelines of the Cannes film festival.
The film stars Gerard Depardieu as a sex addict who commits a sexual assault on a hotel maid.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyer said the film was defamatory in that its subject matter was similar to the accusations leveled against Strauss-Kahn, who quit the International Monetary Fund in 2011 after a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault.
The film's director, Abel Ferrara, said he wasn't worried about a lawsuit.
SOUNDBITE: Abel Ferrara saying (English):
"What are they gonna get from me - my guitar?...It's a make-believe movie, dude, it's not a documentary."
The film is currently available throughout France on pay-per-view.
