Classmates Sue Over Dazed & Confused

[Ash]

OMG!  What a crock!

Listen to this....
(taken from Yahoo News)

SANTA FE, N.M. - "Three former high school classmates of "Dazed and Confused" director Richard Linklater have filed a lawsuit claiming they have suffered embarrassment and ridicule because of characters based on them in the movie.

The men â€" Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater and Richard "Pink" Floyd â€" say Linklater did not get their permission before creating three characters in the 1993 cult classic sharing their surnames and likenesses. The suit was filed Thursday in Santa Fe against Universal Studios, which released the film.

The movie follows the drug- and alcohol-fueled hijinks of teenagers on the last day of school in May 1976. The men said the negative characterizations in the film have made their lives miserable and caused their neighbors to think poorly of them.

"We had fun in high school, but there is nothing true about that movie. Yet, I am having to deal with it all the time," said Floyd, who works at a car dealership in Huntsville, Texas, where the men went to high school.

Ernest Freeman, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, said Slater has also had problems because people make assumptions that he takes illegal drugs.

Slater runs a construction and remodeling company and Wooderson works in the technology sector. Both men also still live in Huntsville.

Linklater's agent did not immediately return a message Saturday seeking comment.
The suit was filed in New Mexico because it has a longer statute of limitations than other states for claims of defamation and false light, attorneys said."

Like I said before....What a crock!
Those guys should be grateful....I know I would be.
Dazed & Confused is a great flick and if I were the inspiration for one of the characters in it, I would be honored!

What do you think of all this?



Post Edited (10-10-04 00:06)

[daveblackeye15]

Well, gee I think they stand on good ground with their law suits. I mean what they said about their neighbors thinking poorly about them, how are they gonna live?

[Ash]

daveblackeye15 wrote:

> Well, gee I think they stand on good ground with their law
> suits. I mean what they said about their neighbors thinking
> poorly about them, how are they gonna live?

C'mon!  It's a movie for cryin' out loud!
If those residents of Huntsville Texas cannot differentiate between a movie character and a real person then they're ignorant beyond belief.

I think it's a frivolous lawsuit.
Those guys should be honored that Linklater based his characters from them.
They're probably just p**sed off that Linklater made it big and got the hell out of Texas.
They on the other hand didn't get out of Texas and are looking for a way out.
Jealousy.....I tell ya!

[Ash]

When I think of this, I can't help but think of "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" where they get p**sed because someone used their likeness in the "Bluntman & Chronic" comic books and then a movie.

Do you think this is similar?

[daveblackeye15]

sar·casm

1.  A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound.
2. A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to 3. make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.
The use of sarcasm.

[Late Latin sarcasmus, from Greek sarkasmos, from sarkazein, to bite the lips in rage, from sarx, sark-, flesh.]

Sarcasm

\Sar"casm\, n. [F. sarcasme, L. sarcasmus, Gr. sarkasmo`s, from sarka`zein to tear flesh like dogs, to bite the lips in rage, to speak bitterly, to sneer, fr. sa`rx, sa`rkos, flesh.] A keen, reproachful expression; a satirical remark uttered with some degree of scorn or contempt; a taunt; a gibe; a cutting jest.

The sarcasms of those critics who imagine our art to be a matter of inspiration. --Sir J. Reynolds.

Syn: Satire; irony; ridicule; taunt; gibe.

Sarcasm

n : witty language used to convey insults or scorn; "he used sarcasm to upset his opponent"; "irony is wasted on the stupid"; "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"


My example:

C'mon AshtheCat, you know I'm sometimes stupid on purpose but I thought you could tell I was using sar·casm.

I thought your response was pretty funny though. (Or is the joke on me? Were you using the deadly art of sarcasm yourself ,Master?)

Dictionary stuff was from a bunch of dictionaries.

[Ash]

I didn't realize you were being sarcastic Dave...
No worries....I ain't mad.



Post Edited (10-10-04 03:54)

[Susan]

Everyone wants a piece of the pie. How would neighbors know it was them? The movie doesn't say it's based on a true story. If a movie character had my name my neighbors wouldn't think it was me unless i TOLD THEM. I bet they bragged about it and then maybe the neighbors hated them anyways and ragged on them...if at all.

The movie isn't bad, it portrays everyones teenage years. Regardless of name, we all knew these people...we all were these people. We were young, stupid, naive, idealistic.  Who we were and who we became are not the same. It's just the everyday struggle of going from childhood to adulthood

unless the three plaintiffs live in a trailer park

[trekgeezer]

You think this is stupid.  I just read a piece in the paper where a lady that worked for the writers of Friends is suing them for 'creating a hostile work environment'. The suit originally included racial discrimination but the court  threw that part out for lack of evidence but told her she had grounds for the other part.

She is the one who had to type the notes for all their story pitch sessions, which probably could get sort of  out of hand since people are just throwing around ideas. But , can you imagine the impact this would have on writers and producers if she wins?

[Dropo]

Wooderson rules!

[Dunners]

I think the fact that the guys real names were used is what offends them.

[JohnL]

I have to wonder why he would use the names of three people he knew, unless there was some truth to the characters.

[Perk]

“You know, maybe one night me, Andy and Pink are out we're mackin' some chick and s**t, and she's, like, "Ooh, I want to suck youse guys' d***s off," and she's, like, "What your names?" And I'm, like, "Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater and Richard "Pink" Floyd Reco'nize. And she's like, "Oh, I saw Dazed and Confused and  youse guys are a trio  of little druggies ." And then she goes and sucks two other guys' d***s off instead. Well, F**K that.”

[Perk]

I did a similar thing when I was sriting a story.  I used names rom people I went to school with.  Hope it never gets published now becuz I could see someone saying " Man Perk based that Troll in that story off of me and now noone wants to cross a bridge with me because of it."

[Susan]

well if they win they should not be allowed to spend the money in any manner unless it involves therapy

but i'm sure they'll all go buy a bag of weed, get stoned at their old high school football field one night and laugh it up

[AndyC]

Writers base characters on their friends all the time, especially in stories based on their own experience, and they also name characters after their friends. However, the general rule of thumb, for this very reason, is that it should not be the same person for both. Use a real name on a character who is nothing like the real person, or base a character on a real preson and call him something else. It's just common sense.

That said, I agree that this is a crock. Everybody did crazy things in their youth, and unless they are incredible tightasses, they take some pride in the stories, or at least no shame. Most people also recognize that people outgrow such things (unless the plaintiffs haven't), and wouldn't hold it against them. And anyone who would give a damn probably isn't intimately familiar with Dazed and Confused.

Besides, Dazed and Confused came out years ago. Where were these people before now? I can't imagine that things would be getting worse for them now.  Unless their own children are holding it up every time they try to give them a lecture.



Post Edited (10-11-04 14:21)