Metro

$10M suit filed over “Black Swan” producer credit

The on-screen intrigue in the Natalie Portman thriller “Black Swan” is rivaled by behind-the-scenes backstabbing that cost a movie exec his valuable producer’s credit, a new suit says.

Rick Schwartz charges that the former president and COO of his production company botched the film’s financing — which included “criminally ususrious” loans — while stealing away a key assistant he was also “pursuing” sexually to launch his own business.

Schwartz says the alleged chicanery led his partners in the critically acclaimed film to relegate him to the post of “executive producer,” meaning he won’t share the stage if it wins any Oscars or Golden Globe awards.

Schwartz’ Manhattan federal court suit, filed this morning, seeks $10 million-plus in damages from ex-employee Aaron Kaufman, who’s accused of breaching his contract and “fiduciary duty,” along with “misappropriation of corporate opportunity.”

Schwartz, a former Miramax exec who helped produce such box-office smashes as “The Aviator” and “Gangs of New York,” says Kaufman conned his way into a $250,000-a-year at Schwartz’ Overnight LLC in Febrary 2009.

But by October of that year, Kaufman was allegedly trying to launch his own production company with director Robert Rodriquez, and began demanding to be released from his contract.

“By the end of October 2009, Kaufman simply stopped working for Overnight altogether, and stopped returning calls from the artists representatives associated with ‘Black Swan’ who were anxious to known when financing for the film would be completed, since principal photography was due to begin immediately,” the suit says.

Kaufman was eventually “told by the artists representatives on ‘Black Swan’ to ‘cease and desist’ having anything to do with the film” and two other production companies were brought in to complete the financing.

Schwartz claims he later discovered that the financing Kaufman did arrange included $975,000 in pricey “bridge” loans from New Jersey investors Gerald and Peter Fruchtman.

The suit says Kaufman agreed to “financing fees” that “if not paid within three weeks, would come to $65,000 per week, or $3.38 million per year.”

The suit also alleges that after Kaufman was canned in December 2009, he launched a production company with Rodriquez and former Overnight employee Iliana Nikolic, who oversaw “physical production work” on several films for Overnight.

“What is more, unbeknownst to Schwartz and Overnight’s investors, at the same time that he was trying to get her to leave Overnight, the married Kaufman was simultaneously pursuing Nikolic sexually, which would have potentially exposed Overnight to substantial liability,” the suit says.

In an interview with The Post, Kaufman denied all of Schwartz’ allegations, calling the suit “obviously baseless” and saying: “the stuff about my personal life is completely libelous.”

“This is obviously a spiteful person who is trying to use the courts to embarrass me,” he said.

Kaufman said that at the time he left Overnight, Schwartz was “literally begging” him to stay.

“Unfortunately, sometimes partnerships go south, and this is one of them, and this is him trying to scorch earth,” he said. “Nothing will come of this. It’s completely baseless.”