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For the 1997 film, see An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn,

Alan Smithee (or the alternate spellings Allen Smithee, Alan Smythee, and Adam Smithee) is a pseudonym used from 1968 to the 2000s by film directors who wished to be dissociated from a film. An Alan Smithee Film Burn Hollywood Burn (the onscreen title is simply Burn Hollywood Burn) was made in 1997 and released in 1998 A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. It was used when the director proved to the satisfaction of a panel of members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that the director was not able to exercise creative control over the film. Directors Guild of America ( DGA) is the labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP is a trade association based in Encino, California that represents over 350 American The director was also required to keep the reason for the disavowal a secret.

Contents

Origin

The first known movie to use the Smithee pseudonym was Death of a Gunfighter (1969). Death of a Gunfighter is a 1969 Western movie. It is most notable for the first use of the Allen Smithee directorial credit The name is also an anagram of "The alias men. An anagram ( Greek anagramma 'letters written anew' passive participle of ana- 'again' + gramma 'letter' is a type of Word play " However, it would be wrong to contribute this as a reason for choosing the name, given that the original choice of Al Smith was already registered with the DGA. During its filming, Richard Widmark was unhappy with director Robert Totten. Richard Widmark ( December 26, 1914 &ndash March 24, 2008) was an American Actor of Films stage, He arranged to have Totten replaced by Don Siegel. Donald Siegel ( October 26, 1912 - April 20, 1991) was an influential American Film director and producer When the film was finished, neither Totten nor Siegel wanted to be credited with the result. At first, it was decided that the credit should go to the fictional "Al Smith", but the DGA reported there had already been an actual director by that name. The film was praised by critics, with The New York Times commenting that the film was "sharply directed by Allen Smithee [sic] who has an adroit facility for scanning faces and extracting sharp background detail. " [1]

Prolific "career"

The name Smithee was used extensively in television and film; Smithee took the direction credit for episodes of well-known series, including the pilot for the action-adventure series MacGyver. MacGyver is an American Adventure Television series, produced in the United States and Canada, about the laid-back Jud Taylor twice used the pseudonym, for the TV movies Fade-In (also known as Iron Cowboy) (1968) with Burt Reynolds and City in Fear (1980) with David Janssen. Judson Taylor ( February 25 1940  &ndash August 6 2008) was an American Actor, Television director Burton Leon Reynolds Jr (born February 11 1936 is an American Actor. David Janssen (March 27 1931 – February 13 1980 was a Golden Globe -winning Emmy Award - nominated American Film and Television Taylor commented on its use when the DGA's Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award was awarded to "Smithee":

"I had a couple of problems in my career having to do with editing and not having the contractually-required number of days in the editing room that my agent couldn't resolve. Robert Aldrich (August 9 1918 – December 5 1983 was an American Film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly Film editing is an art of storytelling practiced by connecting two or more shots together to form a sequence, and the subsequent connecting of sequences to form an So, I went to the Guild and said, 'This is what's going on. ' The Guild went to bat for me. I got Alan Smithee on them both. It was a signal to the industry from a creative rights point of view that the shows had been tampered with. "

Smithee has also been credited with works in other genres, such as the music video for Whitney Houston's cover song "I Will Always Love You" from the soundtrack for The Bodyguard. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set A music video is a Short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music most commonly a Song with lyrics Whitney Elizabeth Houston' (born August 9 1963 is an American Singer-songwriter, Actress, Film producer, Arranger and former In Popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition ( Performance or Recording) of a previously recorded commercially released The Bodyguard is a 1992 romantic-suspense film directed by Mick Jackson, written by Lawrence Kasdan, and starring Kevin Costner The Destiny's Child music video for "Lose My Breath" is also attributed to Smithee, as are the guitar credits on the 2005 William Hung CD, Miracle: Happy Summer from William Hung. Destiny's Child (sometimes referred to as DC or DC3) was an R&B and pop Girl group comprising lead singer Beyoncé Knowles William James Hung Hing Cheong ( Traditional Chinese: 孔慶翔 Simplified Chinese: 孔庆翔 Cantonese Yale: Hung2 Hing3 Cheung4

Although the pseudonym was intended for use by directors, the 1981 film Student Bodies credited Allen Smithee as producer in place of the actual producer, Michael Ritchie. Student Bodies is an American Comedy film first released on August 7, 1981, written and directed by Mickey Rose. Michael Brunswick Ritchie (November 28 1938 - April 16 2001 was an American film director The film's director, Mickey Rose, was credited by his own name rather than a pseudonym.

Outside films, several 1995 comics involving the superhero Daredevil were attributed to the writing of Alan Smithee. Daredevil is a Fictional character that appears in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. Writer DG Chichester took a five-issue break from the series after issue #332, and used this lead time to work on the issues that would print upon his return. A new editor took over the Daredevil line, and did not want Chichester to continue work on the series. Daredevil is a Fictional character that appears in Comic books published by Marvel Comics. Chichester himself was not informed of this directly, but caught wind of the edict nonetheless. Chichester was still obligated to complete issues #338–342; in protest, he insisted on being credited Alan Smithee. His name would not appear in a Daredevil book until #380, the last issue of the first volume of the series.

In 1996, writer Peter Hogan was dropped from the 2000AD comic strip Strontium Dogs, and his episodes subjected to extensive rewrites. Peter K Hogan was editor of Cult political British comics Crisis and Revolver in the late 1980s and early 1990s Strontium Dog is a long-running Comics series featuring in the British Science fiction weekly 2000 AD, starring Johnny Hogan insisted his name be removed from the credits. The script was duly credited to Alan Smithee.

Also, the cartoon series Tiny Toon Adventures, which often had inconsistent artwork and dialogue that had been rewritten at the last minute, had several episodes that were credited to "Al Smithee. A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated Television programs created or adapted for television broadcast with a common series title usually related Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures (also known as Tiny Toon Adventures or Tiny Toons) is an American "

DGA replaces the practice

In 1997, the comedy An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, starring Eric Idle, was released, in which a director wants to disown a film but cannot because his real name is Alan Smithee. Comedy film is a genre of Film in which the main emphasis is on humor. An Alan Smithee Film Burn Hollywood Burn (the onscreen title is simply Burn Hollywood Burn) was made in 1997 and released in 1998 Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943 is an English Comedian, Actor, Author, Singer and Composer of comedic songs As a result of the publicity around this movie, and especially around the fact that director Arthur Hiller asked for and got an Alan Smithee credit for it, the Directors Guild discontinued the Alan Smithee credit. Arthur Hiller, OC (born November 22, 1923 in Edmonton Alberta) is an Oscar -nominated Canadian film director

Another affair that may have played a role in the discontinuation of the pseudonym had to do with the release of American History X, where director Tony Kaye asked for a Smithee, but did not receive it. American History X is an Academy Award -nominated 1998 film directed by Tony Kaye. Tony Kaye (born 1952 London, UK) is a director of films music videos advertisements and documentaries One of the stated rules for the process was that the director was not allowed to comment publicly about why he or she was taking his or her name off the film; Kaye had already spoken publicly about his issues with the re-edit and, thus, was ineligible.

After these issues, the Guild decided to choose a pseudonym for each case separately, rather than re-use a particular pseudonym. The first such example is the "Thomas Lee" credit for director Walter Hill on the 2000 film Supernova. Supernova is a 2000 Science fiction film, from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / United Artists.

The change has not ended the practice of using the Smithee pseudonym entirely. For example, the Canadian film Fugitives Run starring David Hasselhoff is credited to Smithee, as are the 2003 films Cowboys Run and River Made to Drown In. David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952) is an American Actor and Singer, who is best known for his lead roles on Knight As the DGA has no control whatsoever over films produced and directed outside the United States, the practice may continue in Canada and in other countries.

Use in alternative versions

Other productions crediting Smithee as director

The following films credit Smithee; the actual director is listed when known:

Music videos "directed" by Smithee

References

  1. ^ Thompson, Howard (May 10 1969). Whitney Elizabeth Houston' (born August 9 1963 is an American Singer-songwriter, Actress, Film producer, Arranger and former Salt-n-Pepa is a Grammy -Award Winning American hip hop group from Queens New York that came into the music scene in 1985 and went on to Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Grammy -winning Canadian Musician, singer and Paula Cole (born April 5, 1968 in Rockport, Massachusetts) is an American Singer / Songwriter. Gary Barlow (born 20 January, 1971 in Frodsham, Cheshire, England) is an English Singer, Pianist, Billie Myers (born 14 June 1971, Coventry, West Midlands) is an English rock Singer-songwriter. Monica Denise Arnold (born October 24 1980) professionally known as Monica, is an American R&B Singer, Songwriter Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Grammy -winning Canadian Musician, singer and Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July Ruff Endz is an American R&B duo, consisting of members David "Davinch" Chance and Dante "Chi" Jordan from Baltimore MD Jeffrey Gaines is an American Singer-songwriter and Guitarist, born in Harrisburg Pennsylvania, he released his first album in 1992 (see 1992 in music Destiny's Child (sometimes referred to as DC or DC3) was an R&B and pop Girl group comprising lead singer Beyoncé Knowles Bloc Party are a British Indie rock band composed of Kele Okereke on vocals and Rhythm guitar, Russell Lissack on The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC is a church headed by Fred Phelps and based in Topeka Kansas, United States. "Screen: Tough Western: 'Death of a Gunfighter' Stars Widmark" New York Times [1]

See also

External links and sources

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