i got to say, that dinosaur and pete larson were made for each other. so he had to go talk to her. and that was what -- how it should be. >> mostly, i was trying to reassure her that she wasn't going to rot in that case, that i was going to spring her free. somehow, i was going to get her out of there. >> as that whole custody battle unfolded, firstly, the tribe lost its own case in tribal court, which is pretty surprising. but evident that it was a bad claim. the government actually retracted its claim, because it realized it couldn't claim trust property. so then it comes down to two people. is it morris' fossil or black hills' institute fossil? every single filing the institute made, i really believed would win, because it was so clear, they had purchased it, he had accepted the check, he had been on videotape talking about it. it was very clear that he thought he had sold the fossil at the time. >> judge batty held that a fossil, unlike an archaeological find, had become -- the bones had become mineralized, therefore the fossil was land. an individu

pete larson, the lead paleontogist goes to jail and spent a little bit of time in jail for this.south dakota where she was found but at least the science gets to be done on the field museum. >> it's a great resource. it's an amazing institution. they've been doing a fantastic job with sue there. i think the way in which they dealt with the black hills institute over the years has been questionable, in my personal opinion. but i think that's going to change and i think it's great that she's in a place that she's loved, taken care of, and millions of people get to see her. >> why did you decide to tell this story? i didn't know the backstory of sue, the largest t-rex ever found in the history of the world. >> i wanted there to be a better audience there. had been so little written in the media about it and i wanted people to enjoy the appeal that i had. >> tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. great work. we have a lot of breaking news for you out of sydney, australia. this possible hostage situation unfolding there. we're going to take a quick break and we'll be back wit

i got to say, that dinosaur and pete larson were made for each other.he wasn't going to rot in that case. that i was going to spring her free. somehow i was going to get her out of there. ♪ >> as that whole custody battle unfolded, firstly, the tribe lost its own case in tribal court, which is pretty surprising, but evident that it was a bad claim. the government actually retracted its claim, because it realized it couldn't claim trust property. so then it comes down to two people. is it morris' fossil or black hills institute's fossil. it was so clear they had purchased it. he had accepted the check. he had been on videotape, talking about it. it was very clear that he thought he had sold the fossil at the time. ♪ >> judge batty held that the bones had become mineralized. therefore, the fossil was land. an individual indian cannot sell land that the government holds in trust for him without permission of the federal government to begin with. so that's what ended it. fossils are land. >> judge batty said, actually in his filing that the sale was null an

reading the book and meeting him, we decided to kind of shift focus and just go right -- >> then pete r larcer larsona scientist who discovered sue, along with sue who's she named after, is described in the film as being in love with the dinosaur. i mean, what struck me was how personal this was for them. to find something so huge in terms of its significance to the history of this world, and to then have it taken away by the attorney general at the time. >> yeah. >> and never to get it back. >> yeah. that was a fascinating aspect for me. there's some key issues in the film that deal with our criminal justice system and federal government. >> he served prison time. >> the world of it. for me as a filmmaker, i was very interested in the personal relationship that somebody could have with, in this case, a dinosaur. >> fossils. >> it became a love affair that lasted, you know, still lasts to this day two decades, you know, after her discovery. >> what has been the -- i know -- well, first of all, most people haven't seen it yet. i got a sneak peek. it's airing on cnn thursday night at 9:00 p.m. but from