A niece of the late fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo wants her uncle’s former assistant to keep his hands off the famed lensman’s photo archives — including snapshots of a nude Burt Reynolds, Andy Warhol sporting a Rolex and a budding Liza Minnelli.
Angela Scott has control over the $1.5 million trove of images as executor of her uncle’s estate.
Scavullo’s on-again-off-again assistant, Michael Gonnella, filed suit in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court, claiming he needs access to the archives to complete a documentary on his boss’ career.
But Scott said the purported biopic is unauthorized — noting that Gonnella, 44, of Ocean County, NJ, has been plugging away on it for almost two decades.
“While [Gonnella] claims he has been working on a documentary of [Scavullo], if [he] is to be believed, then that documentary has apparently been in production for approximately 18 years,” Scott scoffs in court papers filed on Feb. 10, asking a judge to toss Gonnella’s suit.
Gonnella, who started working with the Staten Island-born Scavullo in 1993, claims he inked a deal with the photographer in 2001 to produce a 60- to 90-minute film, according to the suit he filed in November seeking access to the archive.
But Scott said the agreement Gonnella submitted to the court is partially illegible — and appears to be a contract with Raquel Welch, whom Scavullo photographed.
Scavullo, who died in 2004, helped launch the careers of Brooke Shields, Rene Russo and Farrah Fawcett.
His archives make up the bulk of the estate.
Scott did not return calls seeking comment.