Christian Bale and Amy Adams’ characters in “American Hustle” weren’t the only ones running a con on the set of the hit 2013 film — the studio was also cooking the books to avoid paying production assistants overtime, a class-action lawsuit claims.
Brooklyn-based production assistant Christian Pellot is one of over 100 studio workers filing the unpaid wages suit in Manhattan federal court Wednesday just ahead of the Oscars against Sony Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment, Universal Picture and Paramount Pictures.
The Hollywood studios engaged “in a systematic scheme of altering plaintiffs’ paychecks in order to deprive them of their statutorily required overtime pay,” the suit says, according to an advance copy obtained by The Post.
Pellot, 43, of Brooklyn, said he only made $150 a shift and did not earn any overtime pay even when he worked 12-hour days, six-days-a-week, the suit says.
The non-union workers, who secured the New York City area sets of popular films like “The Bourne Legacy” and “Trainwreck,” were also subjected to deplorable working conditions including being forced to go to the bathroom in containers, according to court papers.
Pellot said there were no bathrooms during the first day of shooting “American Hustle” near Central Park in 2012.
“Businesses wouldn’t let us use the restrooms, so we had to pee in bottles in our car and defecate in buckets,” Pellot told The Post.
“It’s horrible,” Pellot continued, “As much money as [Hollywood filmmakers] make and we can’t even have a Porta Potty. It’s just completely wrong.”
The PAs were also barred from taking breaks to get food, the suit says.
Pellot and the other production assistants, whose work entails directing traffic and holding parking spots, are suing for over $5 million, said their attorney James Vagnini.
“We’re going to be calling on talent in movies this week, including Kevin Bacon, about whether they stand with these guys,” Vagnini said.
He’s planning to announce the suit at a press conference at Manhattan’s storied Ziegfeld Theater Wednesday morning.
Some of the same workers who are suing the studios filed similar claims against TV productions companies in September. That case is still pending.
Reps for the studios did not immediately respond to requests for comment.