's awards season this year, there were two films aiming to hit the Oscars, which caused controversy. Both of these works are based on real people and real events, and both are starring well-known actors, but they are all involved in a lot of trouble because of protests from relatives and friends of the character prototype.
"The Elegy of Richard Jewell" stigmatizes women in journalism? One of the two
films is "Richard Jewell" (Richard Jewell) directed by the 89-year-old director Clint Eastwood. The protagonist is a man named Jewell who died in 2007. Security. During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the United States, after he found a bomb in the Centennial Olympic Park, he immediately notified the police and helped evacuate nearby people. Although the incident eventually caused one death and 111 injuries, it would have caused more casualties if it hadn't been for Jewell's earlier discovery of the bomb. However, after the incident, he was mistaken as a suspect by the FBI and was subjected to the so-called "media trial," and his reputation was severely damaged. In the end, the police captured the real culprit and Jewell cleared all suspicions, but soon died of diabetes at the age of 44.
At that time, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), a local newspaper in Atlanta, first disclosed that the FBI had regarded Richard Jewell as a suspect and suspected that he had deliberately dropped a bomb because of frustration in life, and then called the police. , Take the opportunity to establish a heroic image for yourself. After the incident, Jewell took the "Atlanta Constitution" and other media to court, demanding restoration of reputation and compensation for losses. However, the litigation process in this case lasted for many years, and the case was not closed until Jewell's death. In the end, the Atlanta court ruled that he lost the case, at which time Jewell had passed away for four years.
In July 1997, the US Attorney General stated publicly that the FBI’s original practice of leaking case information to the Atlanta Journal was very problematic and the authorities should apologize to him. Today, Clint Eastwood has put this incident on the screen, but because of a detail in the film, it has provoked a strong protest from the Atlanta Journal, which recently even threatened to produce Warner Bros. take to court.
Olivia Wilde as Kathy Scruggs
In the film, Olivia Wilde (Olivia Wilde) as the "Atlanta Constitution" female reporter Kathy Scruggs (Kathy Scruggs) , It was she who co-wrote the front page article that doubted the innocence of Jewellery. There is a scene in the film in which she slept with an FBI agent played by Jon Hamm in order to obtain this information, and the lines imply that she had used this method more than once in the past. Police report. It was this plot that provoked strong dissatisfaction with Kevin Riley, the current editor-in-chief of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. He publicly criticized this as a stigmatization of female employees in the news media. Not only was it unfounded, but it was even more wrong to put it in such a movie that emphasized whether the media should believe in rumors or not spread rumors.
At first, neither Warner nor the director Eastwood made any response to this criticism. Only the actor Olivia Wilde said in an interview that she did not think there were many problems with the plot here, nor I hope that the outside world will blur the focus because of this episode and ignore the connotation of the whole film.
This week, seeing that Warner did not say anything, the "Atlanta Constitution" made another heavy hand, and invited the famous Hollywood lawyer Martin Singer as an agent to advise Warner and director Clint Eastwood. A seven-page open letter was sent, asking the other party to make an immediate public statement, explaining that part of the plot of "Richard Jover's Lament" is purely imaginary and an artistic re-creation for theatrical purpose. In addition, the "Atlanta Constitution" requires this statement to be attached in an obvious place when the film is released later. Otherwise, Martin Singer, a famous lawyer who has been in Hollywood for more than 30 years and whose clients include Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Bruce Willis, Scarlett Johnson and many other celebrities, will put Warner and East Wood went to court.
"Richard Jewell's Lament" poster
"Atlanta Constitution" editor-in-chief Mr. Riley told the media that he watched the film at the American Film Academy Film Festival last month, I was very dissatisfied with the plot at the time; although I and Ms. Casey Scruggs did not work as colleagues (she died of an overdose of painkillers in 2001, and lived only 42 years), but according to He knew that the claim that she relied on having sex with people in exchange for news was purely fabricated. This was a stereotype of female journalists. It used to be similar to Absence of Malice (1981) and "Thank You for Smoking" (Thank You for Smoking, 2005) and other movies have been included, but it is even more outdated in the new Hollywood era that emphasizes women's rights.
On December 10th, Warner finally gave an official response, stating that it will not give in and its attitude is quite tough. In their opinion, the female reporter's article directly affected Jewell's reputation, and the newspaper could not shirk the blame. "Richard Jewell is the real victim. What we want to tell in this movie is his story, to restore his reputation." In the current series of operations of the "Atlanta Constitution", in Warner's view, It is purely intentional to blur the focus. If there is a lawsuit, Warner is willing to accompany to the end.
The long-established "Atlanta Constitution" is not only the largest newspaper in Atlanta, but also has a great influence throughout Georgia. According to the editor-in-chief Mr. Reilly, the newspapers are very dissatisfied with Eastwood’s new film. For this reason, they recently published a full-page article on restoring the reputation of female journalist Scruggs. In the article, veteran newspaper employees spoke in succession, recalling the conscientious female reporter in their minds. The male reporter of the newspaper who co-authored the breaking news article with her also said that no one had contacted him before and after the filming to verify the details, and the final result was "reverse black and white."
"The Elegy of Richard Jewell" will be released in North America on December 13. According to media who have watched the film, there is actually a regular operating disclaimer at the end of the film: "This film is based on real historical events, and some lines, events and characters are recreated for theatrical purposes. In other words, the lawsuit between the Atlanta Journal and Warner may be difficult to fight.
Apple's new film "The Banker" is blocked.
Compared with "The Lament of Richard Jewell", the situation of another new film "The Banker" may be more complicated. The film was supposed to be one of the opening dramas on Apple TV+, a new streaming media platform launched by Apple at the end of the year, but the release plan was delayed due to a dispute, and the future was uncertain.
"The Banker" is starring "Falcon" Anthony Mackie and old drama bone Samuel L. Jackson (Samuel L. Jackson), and it tells real stories. In the United States in the 1950s, the status of blacks was still quite low. Although their protagonists Garrett and Morris made a fortune by doing real estate, they were still restricted by laws when they wanted to enter the banking industry. achive dreams. So, they figured out a way to transfer flowers to the tree, and found a white young man to "play" the boss of their own bank, but they disguised as their drivers and cleaners and secretly controlled the bank's operations.
Anthony McKay (right) and Samuel L. Jackson
"The Banker" began filming in the fall of 2018 at a cost of approximately $11 million. In July 2019, Apple bought the copyright of the film. It is said that they were so optimistic about the positive social significance of this black legend at the time, so that they only watched the ten-minute video clip and immediately decided to take the copyright. Originally, Apple was going to use "The Banker" to hit this year's awards season and fight for a good start for Apple TV+. At first, the plan went smoothly, and the film got the golden opportunity of the closing film of the American Film Academy Film Festival on November 21, and it was very popular with the media.
But on November 20th, Apple temporarily announced the cancellation of the "The Banker" screening. At first, the company did not announce the specific details, only that there were technical reasons. A few days later, Apple announced that the film’s national theater release scheduled for December 6 was postponed for some reason. The Apple TV+ platform scheduled for January 30, 2020 will also be postponed. Only then did the outside world realize that The Banker was in deep trouble.
Bernard played by Anthony McKay·Bernard Garrett (Bernard Garrett) has passed away long ago. He had two marriages in his lifetime. The son Bernard Garrett, who gave birth to his first wife, is the copyright holder of the story of his father, who also served as the name Co-producer of the film. Old Garrett’s second wife gave him two daughters, and now it is the two of them who publicly accused this half-brother of having sexually assaulted him for a long time. Sister Cynthia Garrett said that from the script creation to the filming of the movie "The Banker", no one had ever consulted their sisters. My brother extended his grip on them, and sister Sheila Garrett even They are all underage. She called on the film to draw a clear line from the demon who abused the young girl, and give them justice. After the
incident, Bernard Jr. immediately denied the allegations of sexual assault by the two sisters, but also announced that he would no longer be named the co-producer of The Banker. The original idea for the story of this film actually came from the old Bernard himself. He always hoped that the legend of himself and Morris would be known to more posterity, so he found two screenwriter friends more than 20 years ago. Come write this script. Many years after his death, his son took this story and went to a Hollywood producer, and he changed the manuscript to make this "The Banker".
However, in the whole story of the film, there are no three characters: the second wife of the protagonist and her two daughters. On the one hand, this may explain why the producer and Apple never thought of contacting the Cynthia sisters; on the other hand, in addition to accusing her brother of sexual assault, Cynthia Garrett also accused "The Banker" of distorting the plot. The fact is that my brother deliberately excluded the three of them, mother and daughter, for this reason.
"The Banker" poster
Last week, the director of the film, George Nolfi (the masterpiece "Destiny Planning Bureau"), co-starred and almost all the cast and crew issued a joint statement. Highly sympathetic, but also insists that the film itself is not problematic. The story is not taken from the unilateral statement of Bernard Jr., but derived from the script scripts left by Bernard Sr. and the first-hand results obtained by the creator after multiple visits. material. As of now, the two sides have not reached a settlement, and Apple has not announced when "The Banker" will restart.
It is worth mentioning that Cynthia Garrett actually published the memoir "Prodigal Daughter: A Journey Home To Identity" as early as 2016, in which she wrote about being sexually assaulted by her brother. Obviously, the film producers and distributors either didn't know the existence of this book, or they didn't pay enough attention when they knew it. It was possible to do the pre-plan early, but it finally led to the embarrassing situation today.
Cynthia once told the media that what made her very angry was the attitude of the producer of The Banker. When she learned that the film was being produced as early as the beginning of this year, she contacted the film producer, hoping to talk to the other party, but never received a reply. Until the 4th of last month, Apple released the "The Banker" trailer, which was about to premiere, so she contacted Apple again. "At the beginning, we only hoped that the two parties could talk in private to see how to deal with it. It was not for financial compensation. What we wanted was someone who could listen to what we said, and then we could see how to make up for the mistake. We don’t want this sexual assailant to profit from this movie, and we don’t want him to deceive everyone that way. We contacted Apple, then waited, and finally waited for their refusal to meet. This made us very sad. "
In fact, film works like "The Lament of Richard Jewell" and "The Banker" are based on real people and real events. On the one hand, we should visit as many people as possible in advance to eliminate risks. On the one hand, related risks are hard to guard against, and you will get into trouble if you are not careful. For example, "Green Book", which won an Oscar award last year, actually published similar news. Some friends and relatives of the pianist in the film protested that the film did not listen to their opinions in advance. As a result, it has become more and more difficult to shoot such real-life movies. If the protagonist is a recognized negative person, it is easy to handle—for example, "Breaking News" which exposed the sex scandal of Roger Ayres, founder of Fox News "(Bombshell) or the next Harvey Weinstein biopic that someone will shoot-but if it is a positive story like "The Banker", if there is a negative news explosion, the publisher will fall into a passive situation.
said one last sentence, "SilverThe prospects for "The Maverick" and "Richard Jewell's Lament" in this year’s awards season are both bleak. The former was originally favored by Apple, but both of them are now problematic for distribution. Although the latter is included in the American Film Academy and the National Review The ten best movies of the year recommended by the association, but only Casey Bates got a nomination for best supporting actress at the Golden Globe Awards, which fell short of industry expectations.
