Names and faces
Seth Rogen responded to the anger incited by a series of tweets he wrote regarding the film American Sniper in a statement issued exclusively to The Ass oc i a ted Press on Thursday, saying it wasn’t his intent to offend anyone or to say anything with political implications. The actor and filmmaker, fresh off of the whirlwind, Sony-hack-addled release of his film The Interview, was thrown back into the spotlight Sunday when he tweeted that “American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that’s showing in the third act of [ Inglourious Basterds].” Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 revenge fantasy film shows clips from a fake propaganda movie about a skilled Nazi sniper. Online outlets including Fox News Insider, the Daily Caller and Brietbart concluded that Rogen’s intent was to liken Clint Eastwood’s fact-based drama about the late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle to “Nazi propaganda.” On Monday, Rogen went back to Twitter to clarify that he “actually liked” Eastwood’s film and that he wasn’t comparing the two at all. In his statement Thursday, Rogen reiterated that the movie only reminded him of the other “because they both involved plots about the most lethal of snipers.” He went on to explain that he would never compare the film to Nazi propaganda and that he has nothing against Kyle or veterans in general. “My grandfather was a veteran,” Rogen said.
Michael Bay has apologized for a short clip of footage of a real plane crash that had been used in a new movie from his production company, Platinum Dunes. In an email to the Air Force Times, Katie Martin Kelley, Paramount’s executive vice president for publicity, said the footage will be removed from Project Almanac. Kelley said Project Almanac — a film directed by Dean Israelite — is still scheduled to be released later this month. The Air Force Times notes that the footage “appears nearly identical” to a clip of a fatal crash at an Air Force base that left four people dead in 1994. Earlier this week, Paramount told the Times that it was from a 2009 crash in Japan. In a statement to the Air Force Times, Bay said he didn’t realize the clip was from a real crash, nor that it was of an Air Force plane. “I have asked Paramount Pictures to remove this shot immediately from the picture,” Bay said in the statement. “I want to also extend my deepest apology to the families, and also to the U.S. Air Force.”