Author Topic: Hmmmm: Paul Haggis, Brendan Fraser Win $12 Million From 'Crash' Producer  (Read 6627 times)

Offline serious crayons

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What I found most interesting about the Salon piece was that he just unequivocally accepts that "Brokeback" should have won, even though ALL of the other nominated films were better than "Crash." I mean, I agree with him, of course. But he doesn't even attempt to make a case for any other possible contender, he just proceeds from the (correct) assumption that it should have been BBM.


Offline Front-Ranger

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Well, since we can't just seize the Oscar from Haggis Robin Hood-style and give it to Lee, I think the only thing that will even begin to bring justice is a commemorative book similar to what was written for Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It would need to be a high-quality art book with lots of photos but also a scholarly work with articles written by Annie Proulx, Lee, Diana Ossana, and the best film critics on the planet. I'm so sorry the costume designer has died because the one for CTHD wrote a wonderful article about the selection of those costumes and their symbolism. We can not wait until other key people die...it's bad enough that her and Heath's voices will be absent!
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Offline Front-Ranger

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I am putting together a book proposal for Powell Books, publisher of a series on important films including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Sense and Sensabiliity both by Ang Lee. Anybody interested in following this, reply here or let me know.
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Offline serious crayons

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I am putting together a book proposal for Powell Books, publisher of a series on important films including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Sense and Sensabiliity both by Ang Lee. Anybody interested in following this, reply here or let me know.

Sure! Can you provide any more details?


Marge_Innavera

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The Salon piece also included some real jaw-droppers:

*  1960: Best original screenplay goes to ... "Pillow Talk"?

"The competition for best original screenplay of 1959 included scripts for three of the greatest motion pictures ever made: "Wild Strawberries," by Ingmar Bergman; "The 400 Blows" by Francois Truffaut and Marcel Moussy, and "North by Northwest," by Ernest Lehman. "


* 1969: "Planet of the Apes" wins a special Oscar over "2001: A Space Odyssey"

This was an award for makeup; and the photos contrasting man-to-ape mockups in both pieces are striking. By comparison, the Planet of the Apes job looks like a K-Mart Halloween costume.

"Stuart Freeborn's makeup in the opening "Dawn of Man" sequence was so convincing that it attained an almost documentary believability. All the ape-creatures were played by actor dancers in shaggy body suits and masks, except for a couple of infants played by actual baby chimpanzees. "


The familiar photo from Crash is shown in the BBM piece.  I've wondered if anyone else thought that it looked like he had just stepped on her toe. 

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Hmmmm: Paul Haggis, Brendan Fraser Win $12 Million From 'Crash' Producer
« Reply #15 on: December 22, 2011, 01:51:40 am »




Among the various improper deductions cited was.... $1,300 for Academy Award tickets.


 :D :D :laugh: :laugh: ;D ;D




http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/paul-haggis-brendan-fraser-win-275895?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter



Paul Haggis, Brendan Fraser
Win $12 Million
From 'Crash' Producer Bob Yari

Judge found that financier Yari had diverted funds from
profit participants of 2005 Academy Award winning film.


By Eriq Gardner
8:30 AM PST 12/21/2011
 


"Crash"


A Los Angeles judge has awarded $12 million to Crash  director Paul Haggis, co-star Brendan Fraser, writer Bobby Moresco and others as a result of the film's producer Bob Yari employing "creative accounting" to divert money from the Oscar-winning best picture.
 
Since Crash  was released in 2005, financier Yari has been involved in all sorts of litigation, from a lawsuit he pressed against the Producer's Guild over credit on Crash  to defending claims made by a variety of parties, including co-star Matt Dillon, over owed compensation.
 
One of the biggest lawsuits came from the film's director, writer, and lead star over ways that Yari had used six different companies and made improper deductions to shrink the pool of profits that would be paid out to revenue participants. Among the various improper deductions cited was a $150,000 settlement to Sandra Bullock to settle a separate claim, $35,000 for legal expenses, $8,300 for a personal ad in Daily Variety,  and $1,300 for Academy Award tickets.
 
In July, Judge Daniel J. Buckley agreed that Yari improperly deducted costs from the film's gross receipts. In the ruling, the judge found that:
 

"Defendants breached the contracts with the plaintiffs by diverting funds to third parties; adopting bogus contractual interpretations; refusing to correct accounting errors in a timely manner; adopting inappropriate accounting procedures that were contrary to industry standards; and, ultimately, using all of these to avoid paying plaintiffs money due under contracts."

 
At the time of the ruling last summer, Richard Charnley, the plaintiffs' attorney, said he hoped the damage award would rise above $5 million in a later determination of the damages. Last Friday, a judge gave him more than twice that amount with a $12 million judgement.
 
Charnley was overjoyed at the outcome, saying, "The impact of the ruling goes beyond this specific case and sets new standards for the entertainment industry."
 
Specifically, Charnely says the ruling signals that distributors can't engage in self-serving interpretation of contract terms in order to deny profit participants their share and can't create interlocking fictional business structures in order to divert cash from a production and thus reduce the profit participants' share.
 
"We are pleased the court saw through the defendants' manipulation and schemes, brought our clients a measure of justice and fired a shot across the bow of the those in the industry who may wish to engage in such sharp practices in the future," he added.
 
Yari's attorney, Behzad Nahai, could not be reached for comment.
 
E-mail:  [email protected]
 
Twitter: @eriqgardner
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Offline Meryl

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Re: Hmmmm: Paul Haggis, Brendan Fraser Win $12 Million From 'Crash' Producer
« Reply #16 on: December 22, 2011, 02:18:47 am »
Interesting.  Thievery all around, including stealing our Best Picture Oscar.  >:(
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