USA: ART DIRECTOR ARTHUR HILLER WANTS HIS NAME TAKEN OFF THE CREDITS OF "AN ALAN SMITHEE FILM - BURN HOLLYWOOD, BURN"

Record ID: 387562

  • Title: USA: ART DIRECTOR ARTHUR HILLER WANTS HIS NAME TAKEN OFF THE CREDITS OF "AN ALAN SMITHEE FILM - BURN HOLLYWOOD, BURN"
  • Date: 23rd February 1998
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH ) JOE ESZTERHAS SAYING, "I ALSO FEEL A WONDERFUL IRONY. I MEAN, I'VE HAD SO MANY RELATIVELY PUBLIC BATTLES WITH DIRECTORS AND HERE I AM, GOING OUT, WRITING A MOVIE, IN DEFENCE OF DIRECTORS. I THINK SOME DIRECTORS ARE GOING TO ABSOLUTELY REGURGITATE AT THAT AND SAY 'MY GOD, WHAT IS THIS
  • Embargoed: 10th March 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVABK32E0MU36Y9MNIYN5RLQ48NM
  • Story Text: Hollywood's self-proclaimed "bad boy" screenwriter, Joe Eszterhas, is at it again.The controversial writer has made a spoof about a movie that is apparently so bad, the director demands his name be taken off the credits.

    In a case of life mirroring art, director Arthur Hiller was so disgusted with "An Alan Smithee Film -- Burn, Hollywood, Burn" that he had his name taken off the credits.

    And there's more.The star of the movie, Eric Idle of Monty Python fame, says he doesn't like the film either.

    Nor do a group of critics who left the screening room before the movie ended.

    "I figured it was all right when I saw five others leave," one Hollywood journalist explained.

    Eszterhas, the high-priced screenwriter who faces tough times after such flops as "Showgirls" and "Jade," sought to make a movie about an industry embarrassment -- the practice of using a pseudonym to cover up for directors who do not want to be associated with trash.

    The Directors Guild of America decided in 1969 that disgruntled directors could call themselves "Alan Smithee" if they did not want to use their own names.They would have used Alan Smith but were afraid there might be a director somewhere with that name.

    Since then, the pseudonym has been used on more than 30 feature films and countless television productions.The fictitious Smithee made his debut in 1969 with directorial credits on "Death of a Gunfighter" when not one but two directors, Robert Totten and Don Siegel, said they wanted nothing to do with it.

    Among Smithee's other featured failures are "Dalton: Code of Vengeance II," "The Shrimp on the Barbie," "Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh," and more recently, "Home Alone 3" and "Mortal Kombat II - Annihilation." Eszterhas is hoping that list won't be joined by "An Alan Smithee Film -- Burn, Hollywood, Burn," directed by Alan Smithee.

    The film's plot revolves around a British director whose name happens to be Alan Smithee.

    Played by Idle, the director is brought to Hollywood to direct "Trio," a megabucks action blockbuster starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg and Jackie Chan -- all who make cameo appearances in the film.

    The movie goes way over budget, becomes Hollywood's most expensive movie ever and Smithee demands that his name be taken off the credits.But there is no way to do that because his name really is Alan Smithee.

    The film is dubbed "The Movie Hollywood Doesn't Want You To See," but Eszterhas' joke on Hollywood might just backfire -- if critics are right, it could turn out to be the film that nobody wants to see.

    The real director, Arthur Hiller, walked out on the film taking his name with him when Eszterhas insisted on making the final cuts after it had been shot -- a job normally left to the director.

    Hiller, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscar awards each year, has not commented on his creative disagreement with Eszterhas, but the screenwriter insists they remain good friends.

    For all the attention on his recent box-office bombs, Eszterhas also has been responsible for some box office successes -- "Flashdance", "Jagged Edge" and most recently, "Basic Instinct".

    His latest film also stars Ryan O'Neal and comedian Richard Jeni as shady Hollywood producers.Rap musicians Chuck D and Coolio take the roles of a pair of up and coming black filmmakers who negotiate to take over the film from Smithee.

    The film opened in selected cinemas in the United States on February 27.
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