Noted director Brian DePalma has been big in the news this week, for the problems he’s having with his new movie Redacted. The strange irony here is that his movie itself, is being redacted. A montage of war photos which DePalma added to the end of his film, were modified and removed by his distributor (Mark Cuban’s Magnolia Pictures) over fears of legal ramifications. DePalma, sounding frustrated, spoke out against their decision at the New York Film Festival saying that he felt his movie had been “violated”. He was confronted during the conference by a Magnolia rep, and the two went at it.
Cinema Blend’s own Katey Rich was there during the conference. You can read her full account of what happened, as well as a complete transcript of DePalma’s entire interview right here.
Meanwhile, a video of Brian facing down one of Mark Cuban’s lackeys has popped up online. Watch it, and pay attention to not just his harsh words for Cuban, but the more important issues of fair use he raises. I’ll see you down a bit below the video:
See the whole thing? Though he’s clearly aggravated, I think DePalma handles himself pretty well. And listen, the guy has a point. People talk a lot about how no one cares about the Iraq war, but when was the last time you saw a picture from Iraq, other than a photo of some soldier waving happily in front of a flag? At the root of all of this though, as it seems to be with just about everything in our society these days, is the United States’s evil, rotten, outdated, copyright law. This isn’t so much about censorship as it is a legal system without any clear fair use policy. Commentators have talked on an off about how our crazy copyright system is killing creativity… well here’s a perfect example of it. A filmmaker trying to tell a real story about real events which impact all of us… and completely unable to do it because of ridiculous laws designed to make corporate executives fat and rich while screwing over everyone else.
Look, I know he’s pissed at Magnolia for not having the balls to stand up for him. I understand that, and he’s right in that our copyright problems aren’t going to get better until somebody does something to challenge them. But you also can’t blame Magnolia for being scared. Hell, I’m scared. They’re a business, and they have to protect their interests. It’s not Magnolia’s fault really, but there’s a serious problem, and I can’t think of any better example of it than the one DePalma presents here.
