Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

[MsFroggy]

Just read a frontpage article on Yahoo! about the Romanian village of gypsies, who live in abject poverty and desperation who are outraged by their portrayal in the movie. It's one thing to trick some stupid frat boys and quite another to take adavantage of people who are poor, clueless and would almost do anything for $3.30, because that's more than they'd otherwise earn in a week. I don't think I want to contribute to this guy's bottom line no matter how funny his stupid movie is.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061114/ap_en_ot/romania_borat_backlash_1

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[AJane]

Originally Posted by MsFroggy

Just read a frontpage article on Yahoo! about the Romanian village of gypsies, who live in abject poverty and desperation who are outraged by their portrayal in the movie. It's one thing to trick some stupid frat boys and quite another to take adavantage of people who are poor, clueless and would almost do anything for $3.30, because that's more than they'd otherwise earn in a week. I don't think I want to contribute to this guy's bottom line no matter how funny his stupid movie is.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061114/ap_en_ot/romania_borat_backlash_1

It's not very nice, true. However, whomever convinced them to sue is just exploiting them further. If they do win, they won't see enough money to make any kind of difference in their lives anyway - we all know it will go into the pockets of the lawyers.
I haven't decided whether I care to see this movie or not. From what I've seen, it just looks like an updated version of Yackov Smirnov or Yahoo Serious. And I never thought either of those guys were funny.

[MsFroggy]

Originally Posted by AJane

It's not very nice, true. However, whomever convinced them to sue is just exploiting them further. If they do win, they won't see enough money to make any kind of difference in their lives anyway - we all know it will go into the pockets of the lawyers.
I haven't decided whether I care to see this movie or not. From what I've seen, it just looks like an updated version of Yackov Smirnov or Yahoo Serious. And I never thought either of those guys were funny.

You're right, suing is pointless too. They won't win and they'll just be made further laughingstocks. Romanian gypsies for the most part are dirt poor, some lead a life of petty crime it's true, but many just have these hopeless, dead end lives, are ostracized by Romanian society in general and discriminated against at every turn. I just don't enjoy seeing them exploited like this.

[PWS]

One could hope the story would shame the star and/or the company into contributing something to the community that will make a difference. Even if they phrased it as "we always meant to if the movie was a hit".

[Krom]

Next probable Borat lawsuit: Cindy Streit, the woman who's dinner party he attended.

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Nov...plaint,00.html

Woman in `Borat'Seeks Investigation

Friday, November 17, 2006

By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer

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LOS ANGELES — The owner of an etiquette business who was handed a plastic bag supposedly containing feces in the hit movie"Borat"says she was told the filming would be used for a documentary in Belarus.

Cindy Streit said she filed a complaint Thursday with California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, requesting an investigation into possible violations of the California Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Streit said a representative from a Los Angeles-based company called Springland Films contacted her Birmingham, Ala.-based company, Etiquette Training Services, about arranging an etiquette session for an"international guest from Belarus Television."

Attempts to find a contact for Springland were not successful. The company had no phone listing and Streit's lawyers declined to provide copies of the contracts allegedly signed.

The attorney general's office had not received a copy of the complaint, spokesman Nathan Barankin said late Thursday.

Streit said she arranged in Alabama both a sit-down session with Borat, played by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, and a dinner party with some of her friends. Clips of both appear in the movie"Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit of Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

Though awkward at times, the dinner went well until Borat asked to use the bathroom, Streit said.

"I had taught him to excuse himself. He did that correctly and went upstairs,"Streit told The Associated Press."The next thing that happened is that he came down the stairs holding this plastic bag with whatever was in it."

"My horror was that he had brought a bag of feces to my dinner table,"she said.

Springland put in writing that the second of two scheduled sessions"will be filmed as part of a documentary for Belarus Television and for those purposes only,"said Gloria Allred, Streit's lawyer.

A spokesman for 20th Century Fox, which distributed the film, called Allred's contentions"nonsense."

"Cindy Streit signed written agreements with the production, which clearly stated that a movie was being filmed and that the movie could be distributed worldwide. Her fee was negotiated and paid,"said studio spokesman Gregg Brilliant.

Several weeks after filming completed, Brilliant said, Streit asked for and received additional payment for her etiquette training service and she signed an additional release. He said he didn't have details on how much she received.

Streit, 59, said she requested an investigation by the attorney general instead of filing a lawsuit in hopes of setting a precedent that will make movie studios think twice before using other ordinary citizens for"reality movies."However, she said she wouldn't rule out a lawsuit.

Streit's demand follows complaints by others shown in the film, including a lawsuit filed by two fraternity members from a South Carolina university who appear in the film drunk.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Lois Lane]

Originally Posted by PWS

One could hope the story would shame the star and/or the company into contributing something to the community that will make a difference. Even if they phrased it as "we always meant to if the movie was a hit".

That would be nice... It's funny 'cause in our area, some homes have been rented to be used in films and the owners were paid very well for it. You'd think 20th Century Fox could've sprung more than $3 or $5 for these gypsies...even if that may be more in their country than the equivalent value in the U.S. I also wonder how much the U.S. participants were paid. Surely they were paid more than $5...

I wonder what the contract looked like that each participant in this movie had to sign. If they said this was a documentary, it seems like everyone would have grounds to sue. But I'm guessing they phrased it as a motion picture...

[Veruka]

I saw an interview with the dinner party woman this weekend. From what she said, they had contracts they negotiated ahead of time, but also were asked to sign a release just before filming commenced. The contract process was very standard, with plenty of time to review. THe release was done very quick, as a "one more thing" kind of move. She assumed it had the same details of the other contract she's signed, and just signed it quickly without reading it.

The thing that makes me mad about all these law suits is that it probably means the Bruno movie will never happen ...

[Lois Lane]

Originally Posted by Veruka

The thing that makes me mad about all these law suits is that it probably means the Bruno movie will never happen ...

It probably will! Sasha has gotten so much publicity...the fallout probably won't be too bad for him.

You know--all of us are inundated with papers to sign every day and I have been guilty of signing things at the doctor's office etc. without reading everything clearly. Nothing bad ever happened but I've been a lot more careful these days. You never know what you can be signing. And when they try to rush me along, I just point to the stack of papers they gave me and ask, "Do you really think I've read this already?"

I was interviewed for something a long time ago and they gave me these pages of things to sign AFTER I had already spoken on camera. I told them I'd read it over and fax it to them after I had time to read it. They were ticked off. So I told them not to use my clip then. Their choice. BTW, I wasn't paid for this so one of my friends (who's a lawyer) said that they wouldn't have been able to hold me to the contract even if I had signed it 'cause a binding contract only works if there was some sort of monetary exchange. Since there was zero... At least I think that's what he said.

Anyhow, the peasants--yeah, it seems like they were taken advantage of. The other suers--I don't feel too badly for them.

[Veruka]

Originally Posted by Lois Lane

It probably will! Sasha has gotten so much publicity...the fallout probably won't be too bad for him.

I'm not worried about his livelihood. I'm worried about my being entertained. Borat always cracked me up on the Ali G show, but Ali G and Bruno are even better characters, IMO.

[Brandy]

From what I've seen, it just looks like an updated version of Yackov Smirnov or Yahoo Serious. And I never thought either of those guys were funny.

AJane I'd compare him more to Andy Kaufman as far as the basic character goes (similar to his 'foreign man') and to Peter Sellers as far as his ability to change his own identity goes. He's very versatile.

The movie itself...I wouldn't recommend it to anyone faint of heart. I am still trying to scrub that wrestling scene out of my mind (I won't say much more so as not to spoil for those going). I just noticed that giz's post tried to warn. Lol. I appreciate that. I couldn't have quite imagined this, though.

You know that new anti-cigarette commercial where a lot of men with really hairy backs, get their backs shaved? Worse.

As for the lawsuits...I feel the movie co. will happily settle those. This movie's made them a mint. Legally though, if you sign a release, that's that. Madonna's and Suzanne Somers' Playboy pix come to mind. They signed a release and did not pose for Playboy. But a release is just that. You have signed away rights.