David Letterman And Joaquin Phoenix Discuss Fair Use As Letterman Threatens To Sue
from the all-on-live-TV dept
You probably recall the infamous Joaquin Phoenix appearance on David Leterman from last year, where Phoenix acted somewhat crazy:You see, earlier this week, Letterman had Phoenix back on to discuss the hoax, and where things got interesting was where Letterman began discussing fair use and publicity rights and demanded money from Phoenix. Letterman points out that Affleck's lawyers had initially said that they could use Letterman in their movie because, as a documentary, it was "fair use." But... since it's no longer a documentary, Letterman suggested his normal fees should apply. While it was all done in a joking fashion, as THResq notes in the link above, the fact that Letterman actually quotes "fair use," and such suggests that perhaps he really has been discussing this with the lawyers.
Letterman: OK, so now I want some money...Nobody ever asked us if Dave was going to be in film. You have to license this out. Give us the license fee. And that was the last we heard. Then we went to the lawyers and the lawyers said, "Yeah, you can. If you want, you can probably sue these people." Then your attorney said, "No, it's fair use because it's a documentary." Well hoo ha, guess what? It's no documentary. It was a theatrical ruse, right?And the video, which should start at the key point in the discussion:
Phoenix: OK, yes. So you are going to sue us?
Letterman: And so I'm in it. And as you mentioned here, at a pivotal moment of the film, where "Oh my god what has happened and Letterman crushes me. Oh, my life is over, my career. What have I done? What have I done??" Now you owe me a million bucks.
Phoenix (mumbles): A million bucks.
Letterman: All the promotion you got from being on here that night in your Dr. Drew 'Oh My God,' all of that is worth something. That's free publicity. So we want something for that. And my talent fee. You know, it's not my first rodeo. I'd like a little taste of this as well. So you and Casey get together with your little buddy and come up with a million. That's all I'm asking.
Phoenix: OK, we'll work it out. But, um, can we talk about it privately?
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Filed Under: copyright, david letterman, fair use, joaquin phoenix
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I think it was a shtick
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Re: I think it was a shtick
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Re: Re: I think it was a shtick
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Re: I think it was a shtick
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I have read that the Letterman clip is not in the DVD release. I've never seen a good reason for the removal of the clip.
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Re: Re: Hyperbole
CEO Raporist Pirate Bureaucratic Banker
The most vile (according to certain groups) of all, and all grouped together! Mwa-hahahahahahA!!
; P
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Do not cry for Dave
It's Dave's hoax. The movie's a failed product, having not earned even $300K at the box office. He wants how much? Dave's a smart guy, and surely knows the first rule of tort law: Don't sue poor people. Ergo, it's a hoax, and if anything, he's making himself look like the jerk he alluded to being made to look like in the film. Why? Perhaps he's helping Joaquin and Casey out, for a fee of course.
I think it's us as consumers who should feel like the butt end of the joke. After all, they are attempting to manipluate us.
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Re: Do not cry for Dave
Yep. This. Stop watching this tripe. Stop supporting these million dollar actors and producers. They are old media, and not worth your time.
I can recall the original clip and closing the browser tab about 3 minutes in. It was obviously a rude, and not worth my time, and that kind of crap turns me off to Letterman interviews, period.
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If Letterman didn't know it was a hoax and agrees to appear in a documentary, then it actually is a documentary from his point of view even if Phoenix is pretending. Just like on Candid Camera - just because there's an actor involved doesn't make it any less real to the people observing. When the Yes Men perform their stunts and film it - is it fiction or truth? A documentary is just a document of something that happened in the real world, whether something fictional is interacting with the real world or not.
But basically, things fall apart when there aren't nice, clean-cut lines between real and fantasy, esp. when people aren't sure about the fantasy.
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"...But in 1993, Letterman made his own big announcement: he was leaving NBC for a lucrative contract with CBS to star in the "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993)...NBC claimed that many of Letterman's gimmicks and jokes, including throwing the pencil at the camera, the Top Ten List, and Larry "Bud" Melman, among many others, were NBC's "intellectual property." NBC lost, but Larry "Bud" Melman would now be called by his real name, Calvert DeForest, on the CBS show."
From http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001468/bio
Twas the first time I'd ever heard of something called 'intellectual property'.
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Letterman asked, "Did I come off as a jerk?"
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Listen to the end
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Re: Listen to the end
Re: Letterman suing. I think there's no case. Its not like the movie made much money. IE, very few people saw it. Now OTOH if it was a hit and made huge sums of cash then that could be a whole other matter. Just my opinion for what its worth.
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Is this article a hoax?
No, the mention of fair use "and such" doesn't really mean he was seriously pursuing a lawsuit at any point. It seems like Dave was just getting him back and intentionally trying to make him squirm. I don't really even feel like Phoenix's squirming was very genuine.
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fair use
http://springboardmedia.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-on-fair-use-and-letterman.html
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sue
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