Dennis Hopper was sued by Rip Torn over 'knife pulling' fight

msn.com:

Channel 5 over the weekend. But long before this Oscar-nominated movie was released, Hopper had a life-threatening incident involving Rip Torn.

Hopper wrote and produced the 1969 movie Easy Rider alongside his long-time cohort Peter Fonda. The film starred Jack Nicholson as the protagonist, Wyatt, in what would become an extremely successful independent movie.

On just a budget of $400,000, the film made more than $60 million at the box office. But Nicholson was not the first option for the picture.

Originally, Hopper approached Torn to star in the movie. Torn reportedly worked alongside Hopper and Fonda to create the script before he was axed from the upcoming movie.