Birth of a Nation | Fox Searchlight | Sundance Grand Jury Prize. ONLY DISCUSS THE MOVIE AND BOX OFFICE IN THIS THREAD.

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, TalismanRing said:

 

Not ALL Parker.  Celestin is his co-writer...

 

 

True but he still directed, produced, and starred in this. It's his baby.

[TalismanRing]

3 hours ago, filmlover said:

True but he still directed, produced, and starred in this. It's his baby.

 

Oh I agree.

 

I'm just pointing out that his friend Celestin -  who according to trial reports Parker allegedly invited into double raping this unconscious girl and who was convicted (while Nate was acquitted because the girl had consensual sex with him before) before his sentence was overturned for a re-trial (based on "ineffective counsel" and the admissibility of phone tapes where he was named by Parker) that had to be dismissed because some witnesses wouldn't testify again including the victim who had been stalked by Parker & Celestin on campus (yay Penn State!) until she dropped out of school and attempted to commit suicide twice  -- is the co-writer.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2016 by TalismanRing

[dashrendar44]

I'm quite angered those scumbags have co-opted and hijacked the life, tragedy and legacy of a man for their own boasting interests and promotional tool, it's appalling. I was interested to see Nat Turner's story being adapted on screen but now I'm repelled in giving the thumb up to these rapists and sad Nat Turner's story being tainted, relegated as a mere footnote in the narrative. Now it will be associated to the two of them because they made it all about the two of them thanks to PR team, damaging the prospects of future movies based on the same story. Why those assholes were being allowed (especially knowing those facts beforehands) when you got plenty other black talented artists voices who are not former sexual abusers?

 

(I'm one that doesn't really draw a seperate line between the artist and his work especially when said artist claims to be an "auteur" in every single sense).

Edited August 16, 2016 by dashrendar44

[Sam]

Unless I don't know about it, I would watch their movie as it is. But once I knew of how certain individuals are terrible human beings, it's just hard and sometimes impossible for me to even watch their products, let alone enjoy it. 

 

I mean, I can get pass the assholes because there are people with great talents, and big egos come with the territory.

 

Rapist, physical/sexual abusers, and the likes though, that's just disgusting. 

 

 

[RichWS]

Quote

One source told Variety that the scramble to cook up slides to outline the details of their release strategy left them with little time to do any kind of research on Parker’s past. That meant that some of the bidders had no idea he was involved in a criminal trial in college.

Another source added that executives at Searchlight weren’t aware of the allegations at the time that they offered $17.5 million for the film, and only learned about the trial when reports about it started to trickle out on smaller blogs.  By then, the ink had already dried on the deal. It did, however, give Searchlight months to figure out possible ways to address the issue when it inevitably became public.

 

 

Boo-fucking-hoo. Parker is an asshole and the co-writer was convicted of sexual assault. Of course, Parker probably just needs to give a few more interviews about how he wants to CHANGE THE WORLD WITH HIS MOVIE and he'll probably win everything. 

[filmlover]

It honestly might have been less embarrassing if they had waited until a rival studio would've inevitably brought the issue up as a smear tactic during awards season than addressed it head on in such a crappy way like this. Gotta feel sorry for the victim, wonder if she'll speak out eventually.

[TalismanRing]

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/nate-parker-rape-allegations-birth-of-a-nation-1201837461

 

Quote

 

Part of the sales agreement for the film called for the label to support a roadshow that would have sent Parker around the country, to churches and college campuses, discussing issues of social justice. But each public appearance runs the risk of journalists or audience members reviving details of the court case and raising difficult questions.

 

A rival distribution executive said that Searchlight would need to give Parker better media training: “That means coaching him carefully. If he responds badly to a question, everything gets worse.”

Quote

Parker, a devout Christian, was also going to directly sell the story of Nat Turner — himself a preacher — to churches and religious groups. He’d already given one of his first major post-Sundance interviews this month to Christianity Today. But questions about Parker’s past could also dissuade religious audiences from buying tickets to see “The Birth of A Nation.”

 

I wonder if Parker is going to insist on support for his roadshow.  I don't think better media training is going to help, especially after the interview he gave to Variety. 

 

 

 

[filmlover]

Worse comes to worse FS will say they stand by the movie even though they don't stand by Parker. Problem is, the movie is pretty much his project.

[Noctis]

Hope this bombs.

[Joel M]

Maybe the marketing/oscar campaign team thought to get it out of the way early so it will be "old news" by the time oscar season kicks in. It's cynical but that's the way campaigns work.

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, Joel M said:

Maybe the marketing/oscar campaign team thought to get it out of the way early so it will be "old news" by the time oscar season kicks in. It's cynical but that's the way campaigns work.

The victim coming forward and saying she forgives Parker is really the only way this will go away and not hurt the movie.

[Joel M]

11 minutes ago, filmlover said:

The victim coming forward and saying she forgives Parker is really the only way this will go away and not hurt the movie.

 

I'm not so sure about that. If the victim and her family decide that they don't want to participate in the media circus and not respond at all at any point, this will be a story that will die pretty quickly.

[Noctis]

23 minutes ago, filmlover said:

The victim coming forward and saying she forgives Parker is really the only way this will go away and not hurt the movie.

 

That'll just make the people hate him more, IMO.

[filmlover]

Just now, Noctis said:

 

That'll just make the people hate him more, IMO.

Yeah, this is screwed either way. Wasn't there a huge bidding war for this back at Sundance? I'm guessing Fox Searchlight and the competitors didn't do their research beforehand.

[Noctis]

2 minutes ago, filmlover said:

Yeah, this is screwed either way. Wasn't there a huge bidding war for this back at Sundance? I'm guessing Fox Searchlight and the competitors didn't do their research beforehand.

 

I truly hope this movie fails.

[PDC1987]

Victims may forgive, but they never forget. Neither does the general public. Polanski's victim may say she forgives Roman, but the fact still remains he drugged a 13 year old girl and then raped her while she was out. And then fled justice after his conviction.

 

Though I'm not sure this will hurt the box office, if it even was going to be a smash in the first place. We literally have "conspicuous" pics from inside Singer's "parties" (including one of Spacey slapping a very, very young looking male ass) yet that scandal didn't hurt the last X-Men.

Edited August 16, 2016 by PDC1987

[ban1o]

There's this one popular blog site/forum for black women that I sometimes look at on and  they've been talking about this for the past few and most of them are completely  done with this movie and boycotting it and that is like the main audience for the film. And people like Oprah and the African American heavy hitters aren't going to want to get behind this anymore. Gabrielle Union one of the biggest stars in the movie among African Americans is a rape victim which makes this even more awkward and apparently there's a rape scene in the movie. 

 

i think they can possibly still save the movie but this is not good PR. 

 

I mean it's possible people are being hypocrites. There have been a lot of shitty people that have still won oscars and had huge success.

Edited August 16, 2016 by ban1o

[cannastop]

Judging by you guy's reactions, this movie might get shafted at the Oscars.

[filmlover]

1 minute ago, cannastop said:

Judging by you guy's reactions, this movie might get shafted at the Oscars.

I was only here for Armie and Aja Naomi King (of How to Get Away with Murder) anyway. Oh well.

[Arlborn]

11 hours ago, TalismanRing said:

 

Oh I agree.

 

I'm just pointing out that his friend Celestin -  who according to trial reports Parker allegedly invited into double raping this unconscious girl and who was convicted (while Nate was acquitted because the girl had consensual sex with him before) before his sentence was overturned for a re-trial (based on "ineffective counsel" and the admissibility of phone tapes where he was named by Parker) that had to be dismissed because some witnesses wouldn't testify again including the victim who had been stalked by Parker & Celestin on campus (yay Penn State!) until she dropped out of school and attempted to commit suicide twice  -- is the co-writer.

 

 

 

 

what the hell, this is disgusting.