Amy Adams has been set to star in a Janis Joplin biopic since the summer of 2010, an announcement that came after years of back-and-forth over a variety of Joplin-centric properties (from the unauthorized Piece Of My Heart to The Gospel According To Janis, which is currently known as Janis and is still stalled out in development, although it has director Sean Durkin and star Nina Arianda attached, to a third film based on an off-Broadway production written by Joplin’s sister). At the time, City Of God helmer Fernando Meirelles was set to direct the feature, which was, quite ambitiously, set for a 2012 release. Still, even then, there were copious questions about the availability of rights for the film, and most people were skeptical that the film would get off the ground.

Turns out, most people were right.

The Adams-attached property, known as Get It While You Can, languished, eventually losing Merielles (other rumored names included Catherine Hardwicke and Lee Daniels). Adams hung on, however, and when Dallas Buyers Club and Wild director Jean-Marc Vallee joined the film last year, it seemed like things were finally beginning to push forward, with one caveat: Vallee and company still didn’t have any rights to the story. Durkin, meanwhile, had reportedly locked down clearance for a number of Joplin’s hits.

That rights situation has only gotten more complicated in the intervening months, as Variety shares that illegal loans might be holding up the creation of the film. Per the outlet:

“Silver Reel Partners and LKL Prods. claim in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday that they were granted an option to the screenplay Get It While You Can, written by Ron Terry and Teresa Kounin-Terry, as long as they could restructure a $1.7 million loan made to Terry’s company. The producers claim that when they tried to do so, the lender, Chesterton Capital, demanded usurious interest exceeding 235% of the principal. The plaintiffs contend that Chesterton and its principal, John P. Walsh, are holding ‘the screenplay and the picture hostage…unless outrageous sums are paid.’”

Moreover, Silver Reel and LKL claim that, despite an exclusive option on the script, Terry have continued to shop the project to other buyers. (Terry and Kounin-Terry are both credited on Get It While You Can’s IMDb page, alongside Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack.) The producers’ claim demands that the loans be declared illegal and that the project is no longer shopped to other producers.

Talk about taking a piece of… the action (sorry).