William Faulkner once was the president of Sony Pictures. It was a grand time for the movie studio, with such classic releases as A Rose for Emily starring Ingrid Bergman as a woman who can't take a hint.
Or, no, I'm confused. But that's what Faulkner Literary Rights LLC implies in a lawsuit against Sony Picture Classics, which released the 2011 Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, in the movie a character named Gil, played by Owen Wilson, says the following lines:
"The past is not dead! Actually, it's not even past. You know who said that? Faulkner. And he was right. And I met him, too. I ran into him at a dinner party."
Well, good lordy lord lord, the Faulkner folks are upset by those seven staccato sentences--specifically, the first two. They've sued Sony because they believe that this paraphrasing with attribution creates confusion with audiences between Faulkner and Sony Pictures. You know--that Faulkner. That one that's been dead for fifty years? Yeah, that one. The Faulkner folks think you might assume ol' Bill once wrote Woody Allen screenplays or did street level marketing for Sony. Or that maybe Owen Wilson was a wingman for Faulkner during a crazy night out in Los Angeles, a la Swingers.
Because they're an optimistic bunch, the Faulkner people are asking--among other things--a hit of the profits from the movie.
Which is cute, because a Woody Allen movie hasn't made a profit since 1978.
photo: Life Magazine, circa 1970something, with Woody Allen reacting to the news.
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