{"id":2918,"date":"2005-03-29T19:52:00","date_gmt":"2005-03-29T19:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/want-to-avoid-a-lawsuit-dont-research-anything\/"},"modified":"2005-03-29T19:52:00","modified_gmt":"2005-03-29T19:52:00","slug":"want-to-avoid-a-lawsuit-dont-research-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/want-to-avoid-a-lawsuit-dont-research-anything.html","title":{"rendered":"Want to avoid a lawsuit? Don’t research anything!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Speaking of <\/span>Kingdom of Heaven<\/a><\/i>, there was an article in the <\/span>New York Times<\/a><\/i> today about a lawsuit alleging that the film stole its story from a recent history book, <\/span>Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade<\/a><\/i>, by James Reston Jr.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that history is a public-domain kind of thing, it may be difficult to prove that the filmmakers stole any particular author\u2019s reconstruction of history, but the response offered by director Ridley Scott is rather interesting:<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked about the matter recently, Mr. Scott, who is still finishing the film in England, said he had not read Mr. Reston\u2019s book, nor any book about the Crusades. \u201cCategorically, I don\u2019t read anything, for just this reason,\u201d he said, referring to the dispute. \u201cI draw the fences up.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ha! Maybe this explains why the history undergirding certain earlier Scott films, such as <\/span>Gladiator<\/a><\/i> (2000) (<\/span>my review<\/a>) and <\/span>1492: Conquest of Paradise<\/a><\/i> (1992), was so dismal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott reportedly also said newbie screenwriter William Monahan \u201chad relied on original documents and several Muslim authors,\u201d the implication apparently being that Monahan had not relied on any secondary sources \u2014 but if Monahan really had been, as he reportedly said, \u201ca student of the Crusades since he was 14,\u201d then I would find it highly unlikely that he had read nothing but primary sources all his life. And assuming that he <\/span>has<\/i> read <\/span>some<\/i> secondary sources, I would assume these, too, had influenced his script.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not that this would mean he had necessarily read Reston\u2019s book, of course. And I wouldn\u2019t want to quote Scott out of context. I just find it funny that any director would openly say \u201cI don\u2019t read anything\u201d when he\u2019s making a historical epic for which there must be an endless supply of research material.
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Speaking of Kingdom of Heaven, there was an article in the New York Times today about a lawsuit alleging that the film stole its story from a recent history book, Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade, by James Reston Jr. Given that history is a public-domain kind of thing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWant to avoid a lawsuit? 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