By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
DRIVE Lawsuit 3: Witness For The Screenwriter
London, England
Dear David
I came across your item while googling reviews of Drive, and see it has generated a fair number of comments.
I am Hoss (Hossein) Amini’s former college roommate from Oxford University, his best friend for over 25 years, and the godfather of his son. The suggestion that he is in any way anti-Semitic is preposterous. I cannot imagine a less anti-Semitic person. Indeed Hoss is the nicest person I know, and I have never heard him utter a word of prejudice about anyone. He has always been very fond of Jewish culture and fair to the state of Israel, and has often stood up for Jews and Israel while others in England’s cultural and literary circles have not done so.
I am a fairly well known commentator on Jewish and Israeli affairs, who was on the staff of Britain’s best-selling quality newspaper the Daily Telegraph for many years, and before that worked in Israel for the Jerusalem Post. I remain a contributor on Israeli and Middle East issues to a number of American papers, including The Wall Street Journal.
I am Jewish, though Hoss is not. My father, John Gross (who among other things was the book editor of the New York Times – as well as occasionally writing movie reviews for the Times and other papers) has also spoken on many occasions about Jewish issues with Hoss and remarked on several occasions that Hoss could almost be Jewish, so friendly was he to Jews and so understanding was he of Jewish concerns.
Thanks,
Tom Gross
Previously…
Stupid Lawsuit Of The Week!™
DRIVE Lawsuit 2: A Critic & A Lawyer Walk Into A Bar…
Great letter and a great pursuing of the story, DP. That said, I still think the most interesting and unreported angle on an Amini/”Drive”-story is the fact that HE CAN’T ACTUALLY DRIVE – no license, no nothing, takes cabs everywhere, etc., and always has.
Cool. Reminds me a bit of Woody Allen pulling Marshall McLuhan into that movie line in ANNIE HALL. Of course I’m sure the folks behind the lawsuit will say the screenwriter’s lack of antisemitism doesn’t mean the film isn’t antisemitic, since an uncredited antisemite could’ve rewritten it.
Years ago, I remember the Weinsteins were heavily into Hossein Amini, who was attached to and wrote scripts for them but weren’t produced. The Weinsteins!!!
It’s a good thing the statute of limitations has run out on such issues, because if this flies with any jury or judge (Which I highly highly HIGHLY doubt it will), then man, what a feeding frenzy this would be for Muslims in the 1980s. From Back to the Future to Navy Seals, one-dimensional characters who only exist to be evil villains and destroy. I’m sure most posters on here could find many other religions/races for this.
And if anyone gave a shit about it, it’d be bad news for a movie like The Sky Crawlers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oddimR3JNcg
Does any moment of the English trailer give you any indication the movie has languid pacing, a lot of scenes of people sitting around having long conversations with a lot of subtext, and the most pointless aspect is most of the action sequences that make up about 5% of the movie? I love the movie, but anyone who was coerced into seeing it expecting a Top Gun movie and getting an Michaelangelo Antonioni-esque movie instead probably has right ot be angry.
Far far away from litigation angry, though. Be a better, more educated consumer. I got missold Another Earth just last month because I read Roger Ebert’s review, watched the trailer and they focused on a lot of the aspects that make up very little of the movie and most of it is this two-character drama. So what? Where is the harm “deliberately” caused by the filmmakers here? It’s nonsense, but you can’t really blame the lawyer for taking a paycheck and a bit of recognition for someone’s stupidity (Yeah, don’t worry about posting the poker face banter about how it is legitimate and blah blah blah. My brother’s a lawyer. I know how standard procedure goes).
Dave you are amazing finding that resource……but facts are a stubborn thing.
Bernie Rose appeared before me in a dream last night. He looked terrible by the way. I asked him if the movie was viciously anti-semitic. This is what he told me: “Its the money that flows up. ”
I was pondering that clue a lot. And then it hit me. He was telling me that something else flows down. Like anti-semitism. Then it made a lot more sense.
The gangsters did not just have stereotypes common to gangsters, there were stereotypes used against all Jews, “flowing down” to the gangsters. That is what takes the gangster “excuse” out of the equation.
For example, the Jew hating false stereotype that Jews are the outsiders that never fit in, but merely pretend to. Just read the bio of Izzy, and how Izzy tried to pretend he was an Italian.
Or the old canard about how Jews are a threat to Christian children, and gee wiz, guess what?
I think this same logic can be applied to many more of the Jew hating stereotypes alleged to be in this movie.
Thanks Bernie. I knew I could depend on a fellow Jew for help.
Martin – Now you are sounding a bit nutty.
A bit?
This entire line of argument has been indulged past the point of lunacy, David. Simply put, the movie is not anti-Semitic. Leaf hasn’t made the case for it remotely, no matter how hard he stretches imagery from the film to fit his interpretation, and it sounds more and more like an agenda advanced by one mentally unbalanced person in the name of another mentally unbalanced person.
Yes, Leaf, that’s right. I think you are genuinely unbalanced. You’re not just a terrible lawyer, you might actually be deranged.
And none of this has anything to do with whether “Drive” resembles “Fast Five” or not.
He’s clearly out of his mind, Poland. He wants attention. You gave him attention.
I just hope he starts a box office blog of his own.
Mr. Leaf, I am curious… what facts? Your client has an OPINION that the film is anti-Semitic in nature. You have an OPINION the film is anti-Semetic in nature. I have an OPINION the film is not anti-Semitic in nature. Drew has an OPINION the film is not anti-Semetic in nature. Facts, by their very definition, are things that actually exist.
What you are actually talking about in this case is Question of Fact, concerning the reality of an alleged event or circumstance, which is done in a trial by jury in a court of law, and decided by a jury after all the evidence has been presented. Right now, there are no “facts” about this case, other than you and your client have filed a case, and you both believe you actually have a case.
I haven’t seen Drive yet, so I’m curious: Is there a scene in the movie where one of the Jewish gangsters says, “I’m glad we killed Jesus,” and the other one says, “That was Hay-Soos, dummy”? Because, yeah, I can see where some people might find that anti-Semitic
YOU HAVEN’T SEEN drive yet? what’s you’re major malfunction? seen it twrice and would see it again
What’s wrong with being anti-semantic?
GexL: I believe it’s wrong to be anti-semantic. Words have meanings and those meanings ought to be respected. It’s not as bad as being anti-semitic, but it’s not good.