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-   -   Ever heard of Sophia Stewart? How about The Third Eye? How about The Matrix?.... (https://thetfp.com/tfp/tilted-entertainment/83244-ever-heard-sophia-stewart-how-about-third-eye-how-about-matrix.html)

K-Wise 02-11-2005 04:25 PM

Ever heard of Sophia Stewart? How about The Third Eye? How about The Matrix?....
 
I'm sure you know The Wachowski Brothers..Oh how about The Terminator? Well I know I've heard of the movies but who the hell is Sophia Stewart? You're about to find out. I found this to be an interesting read. I'm not sure how true it is as I don't have a link or anything to this story.

EDIT: Link - http://www.slccglobelink.com/global_...storyid=785067

Quote:

This little known story has met a just conclusion, as Sophia Stewart, African American author of The Matrix will finally receive her just due from the copyright infringement of her original work!!!

Monday, October 4th 2004 ended a six year dispute involving Sophia Stewart, the Wachowski Brothers, Joel Silver and Warner Brothers. Stewart's allegations, involving copyright infringement and racketeering, were received and acknowledged by the Central District of California, Judge Margaret Morrow residing.

Stewart, a New Yorker who has resided in Salt Lake City for the past five years, will recover damages from the films, The Matrix I, II and III, as well as The Terminator and its sequels. She will soon receive one of the biggest payoffs in the history of Hollywood, as the gross receipts of both films and their sequels total over 2.5 billion dollars.

Stewart filed her case in 1999, after viewing the Matrix, which she felt had been based on her manuscript, "The Third Eye," copyrighted in 1981. In the mid eighties Stewart had submitted her manuscript to an ad placed by the Wachowski Brothers, requesting new sci-fi works.

According to court documentation, an FBI investigation discovered that more than thirty minutes had been edited from the original film, in an attempt to avoid penalties for copyright infringement. The investigation also stated that "credible witnesses employed at Warner Brothers came forward, claiming that the executives and lawyers had full knowledge that the work in question did not belong to the Wachowski Brothers." These witnesses claimed to have seen Stewart's original work and that it had been "often used during preparation of the motion pictures." The defendants tried, on several occasions, to have Stewart's case dismissed, without success.

Stewart has confronted skepticism on all sides, much of which comes from Matrix fans, who are strangely loyal to the Wachowski Brothers. One on-line forum, entitled Matrix Explained has an entire section devoted to Stewart. Some who have researched her history and writings are open to her story. Others are suspicious and mocking. "It doesn't bother me," said Stewart in a phone interview last week, "I always knew what was true."

Some fans, are unaware of the case or they question its legitimacy, due to the fact that it has received little to no media coverage. Though the case was not made public until October of 2003, Stewart has her own explanation, as quoted at aghettotymz.com:

"The reason you have not seen any of this in the media is because Warner Brothers parent company is AOL-Time Warner... this GIANT owns 95 percent of the media... let me give you a clue as to what they own in the media business... New York Times papers/magazines, LA Times papers/magazines, People Magazine, CNN news, Extra, Celebrity Justice, Entertainment Tonight, HBO, New Line Cinema, Dreamworks, Newsweek, Village Roadshow... many, many more!... They are not going to report on themselves. They have been suppressing my case for years..."

Fans who have taken Stewart's allegations seriously, have found eerie
mythological parallels, which seem significant in a case that revolves
around the highly metaphorical and symbolic Matrix series. Sophia, the Greek goddess of wisdom has been referenced many times in speculation about Stewart. In one book about the Goddess Sophia, it reads, "The black goddess is the mistress of web creation spun in her divine matrix"

Although there have been outside implications as to racial injustice (Stewart is African American), she does not feel that this is the case. "This is all about the Benjamins," said Stewart. "It's not about money with me. It's about justice."

Stewart's future plans involve a record label, entitled Popsilk Records, and a motion picture production company, All Eyez On Me, in reference to God. "I wrote The Third Eye to wake people up, to remind them why God put them here. There's more to life than money," said Stewart. "My whole to the world is about God and good and about choice, about spirituality over 'technocracy'."

If Stewart represents spirituality, then she truly has prevailed over the "technocracy" represented in both the Terminator and the Matrix, and now, ironically, by their supposed creators.

Stewart is currently having discussions with CBS about a possible exclusive story and has several media engagements in the near future to nationally publicize her victory. June 13th 2004. Sophia Stewart's press release read: "The Matrix & Terminator movie franchises have made world history and have ultimately changed the way people view movies and how Hollywood does business, yet the real truth about the creator and creation of these films continue to elude the masses because the hidden secret of the matter is that these films were created and written by a Black woman... a Black woman named Sophia Stewart. But Hollywood does not want you to know this fact simply because it would change history. Also it would encourage our Black children to realize a dream and that is... nothing is impossible for them to achieve!"
So all I can say is WOW! If this is true we're definitely gonna hear about it soon. I did a search for her name here on TFP and came up with nothing. Apparently this hasn't been posted before. If anyone else has any info on this like for instance a link to that Matrix Explained website mentioned where it talks of her...feel free to provide it. Or anything else about her for that matter.

It appears in her case justice was served piping hot with a little essence...BAM!

Asta!!

FailedEagle 02-11-2005 04:33 PM

You know, I do vaguley remember hearing something about this at one point in time, I just figured she was full of hockie. If it's true that both franchises were taken from her, then she is an extremely talented indivdual and I'm upset at hollywood for allowing this to happen. (figures though)

Good luck to her though.

K-Wise 02-11-2005 04:37 PM

Yeah I couldn't help but think the writings in all of the movies mentioned were brilliant. I thought to myself. "Wow those Wachowski Brothers truely are fuckin geniuses!" Guess I know the truth now. So many movies about machines taking over the world or rebelling or something...I Robot for example. Wonder what she'll write next?

Asta!!

the_marq 02-11-2005 04:48 PM

Interesting story, K-Wise what is your source?

K-Wise 02-11-2005 04:59 PM

A friend of mine showed me a bit of it in IM and I asked him to e-mail me the full story. I have no idea where he got it from and he's not online right now to ask.

Asta!!

K-Wise 02-11-2005 06:07 PM

Also this....from the link as well.

Quote:

CORRECTION REGARDING PREVIOUS STORY

In reference to the recent article entitled "Mother of the Matrix Victorious," some information has been deemed misleading. Ms. Sophia Stewart has not yet won her case against Joel Silver, Time Warner and the Wachowski Bros. The decision on October 4th enabled Ms. Stewart to proceed with her case, as all attempts to have it dismissed were unsuccessful. Ms. Stewart's case will proceed through the Central District Court of California.

Thanks,
The Globe Staff
Asta!!

degrawj 02-12-2005 12:20 PM

wow. this is news to me. but somehow, it doesn't surprise me. i hope that she wins her case, and that the media does a better job of publicizing it.

Stiltzkin 02-12-2005 01:22 PM

Last year an article appeared in our local newspaper of a Mexican dude who claimed to have written The Matrix. Maybe it is true, maybe it isn't. I'm keeping all of my writing under lock and key from now on... >___>

K-Wise 02-12-2005 02:27 PM

^ haha or getting it copywrited. Even if someone as big as Time Warner steals yer idea they can't beat a copywrite.

Asta!!

Charlatan 02-12-2005 02:44 PM

I would rather chose a wait and see on this... especially since she didn't win the case, just the right to proceed...

Reading the original article she sounds like a nut case... but time will tell.


It is very important to take much of this with a grain of salt... there are many strange people that are drawn to the filmmaking industry... If I had a dollar for all that wackos that accost me... I'd be rich.

K-Wise 02-12-2005 02:52 PM

^ You mean you write Charl? Thats so interesting you should show me yer work some time I mean I'd um...love to "take a look at it" ahah ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA!

http://www.posterplanet.net/images/simpsonsburns.jpg

So lets see it! :mad:

Asta!!

Charlatan 02-12-2005 03:00 PM

I do write, but what I was talking about was my role as head of Acquistions and Development at the film and television company I work for...

I get crazies calling me and emailing me all the time... the worst though is when I go to Santa Monica for the American Film Market. I guess its proximity to LA makes it easy for the nut jobs to come out and play... Walking through the lobby can be like walking the gauntlet... The worst is the ones who can afford to register and can come up to your suite to "chat"... So many people with dreams... so many people with no talent (seriously)...

the_marq 02-12-2005 03:06 PM

They seem to be making a pretty big deal out of the fact that this is black lady suing the makers of these movies, I don't know how that is relavent, but whatever. With a little poking around on http://www.matrix-explained.com I found a link to this alleged treatment that she claims was stolen from her and turned into the Matrix. It's a little hard to read, but I fail to see any similarity beyond the most broad of connections:

<img src="http://www.949zht.com/matrix/matrix7.jpg">

The rest of the pages are here: http://www.949zht.com/matrix/index8.html

K-Wise 02-12-2005 03:08 PM

Wow seems like yer doing well though. Thats fantastic. Sorry about the nutjobs they're everywhere but really I have this script I've been working on for like 10 years...okay 10 &1/2 but it's REALLY good I mean you should read it. It's about this dinosaur...and he's a football player right? And ya know how hard it is for dinosaurs to make it in the sports industry...I mean thats half the movie right there but he eventually becomes one right...BUT then it goes to his head and he becomes a drunk, and a drug addict...He goes to prison! Ruins his football dreams and the rest is about a dramatic recovery that takes several years and a lot of love..by the end he gets a job on a childrens show and coaches pee wee on the side. Okay...now be honest..What do ya think? :D I mean I know it's a little iffy but I think it shows some real promise :cool: So when can we talk about an interview?

Asta!!

Charlatan 02-12-2005 03:11 PM

That just made my day K-Wise...

K-Wise 02-12-2005 03:16 PM

^ Haha its what I'm here for. That Chapter V actually is a rather interesting addition to this post. I definitely see a few similarities to The Matrix but I think I like the way The Matrix is written better from that piece...I guess I'd have to see more.

Asta!!

degrawj 02-12-2005 06:40 PM

hmmm... i actually do see quite a few similarities in that chapter five excerpt. i will definitely have to read more of that.

Slavakion 02-12-2005 08:28 PM

I don't see much until the last two pages (the comic pages). Red pill, Neo, Trinity, "awakening", things that look like sentinels, falling code... Hmm...

K-Wise 02-12-2005 08:49 PM

Oh well thats not much like the Matrix at all. She has no case! :lol:

Asta!!

Mr. Spacemonkey 02-12-2005 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slavakion
I don't see much until the last two pages (the comic pages). Red pill, Neo, Trinity, "awakening", things that look like sentinels, falling code... Hmm...

Yes, I was reading it at the site and then all the sudden came to the comic pages. They seemed to come from nowhere as they had absolutely nothing to do with what was written. This is because she did not actually have anything to do with the comic part, just the writing. That part was a little part of the comic book "The Matrix" made by the Wachowski brothers. I don't know why it was clumped in with the excerpts from The Third Eye.

I found some interesting stuff from here that was worth looking at. It contains some character analysis from The Third Eye and also letters written from her to the Wachowski brothers and such. Pretty interesting. I find it kind of amusing that she is suing for plagerism, yet when you read parts of The Third Eye it actually seems like she is plagerizing the book of Revelations, talking about the end of the world and such.

As for now I'm assuming she is full of shit because she has brought no meaningful evidence to support her claims. So far, what I've read from The Third Eye seems to contain no meaningful similarities unless you are trying too hard to find those similarities. You can find similarities in just about anything if you look hard enough.

K-Wise 02-13-2005 01:07 AM

Quote:

In the mid eighties Stewart had submitted her manuscript to an ad placed by the Wachowski Brothers, requesting new sci-fi works.
Quote:

According to court documentation, an FBI investigation discovered that more than thirty minutes had been edited from the original film, in an attempt to avoid penalties for copyright infringement. The investigation also stated that "credible witnesses employed at Warner Brothers came forward, claiming that the executives and lawyers had full knowledge that the work in question did not belong to the Wachowski Brothers." These witnesses claimed to have seen Stewart's original work and that it had been "often used during preparation of the motion pictures." The defendants tried, on several occasions, to have Stewart's case dismissed, without success.
See now if that part of the article is indeed true then none of the skeptics have a leg to stand on. Because any "similarities" to the Matrix story wouldn't really be similarities at all. They would be blatant rip offs of her original ideas with little things tweaked here and there so it's not a complete word for word plagerism. If those things are indeed true they at LEAST owe her royalties for the obvious inspiration drawn from her original copywrite. Now if The Wachowski Brothers can prove that they've had the story of the The Matrix copywrited in 1980 or earlier then she would have no case.

So yeah you can find similarities in just about anything but if they really did recieve a copy of her story and really did reference it during the preperation of the motion pictures then it's pretty hard to call it a similarity.

It wouldn't be the first time someone took an idea someone else originally had and change it around a little for their movie/book/screenwrite/etc. For instance many people believe that Body Snatchers is a complete and blatant rip off of The Puppet Masters. That claim holds weight..then ya have the crazier ones that say Star Wars is a rip-off of The Lord Of The Rings with Dark Vader as The Dark Lord Soron. All kinds of stuff...no one could prove they were ripping these ideas off though so nothing happened. It seems like if what they say is true then she can prove they stole her story even if it doesn't really seem all that much like The Matrix.

Asta!!

Mr.Deflok 02-13-2005 02:15 AM

I think it's time I went public, folks, I wrote the Bible.

And to this day I am still un-fucking-credited...

Charlatan 02-13-2005 04:43 AM

The falling code came from Ghost in the Shell... I wonder if she is going to go after the Japanese for that?

K-Wise 02-13-2005 02:14 PM

^ The hits just keep on comin!

Asta!!

Lasereth 02-13-2005 02:58 PM

I wonder if it's been discussed if Warner Brothers edited the movie so it wouldn't be similar to Stewart's work to prevent this very situation? If I were producing a billion dollar franchise and saw similiarities with another copyrighted piece of material then I'd make the necessary precautions as well.

-Lasereth

K-Wise 02-13-2005 03:04 PM

^ Y'know it's like the article doesn't even say that. It may have well said they all gathered around and ate cheese sandwhiches.

Asta!!

Mr. Spacemonkey 02-13-2005 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K-Wise
See now if that part of the article is indeed true then none of the skeptics have a leg to stand on.

Yes, you're probably right on this. However, I don't know just how much we can really trust that article considering it contains misleading and incorrect information in other parts such as, "She will soon receive one of the biggest payoffs in the history of Hollywood, as the gross receipts of both films and their sequels total over 2.5 billion dollars."

I'm just saying there is no reason to automatically think that she was ripped off. Remember, these guys are innocent until proven guilty. And from what I've read of The Third Eye, it doesn't sound anything at all like the Matrix, so I can't even imagine what they stole from it. I've also read a bit of the character analysis from the story and the characters don't sound anything like The Matrix characters.

Edit: More Interesting Stuff from an apparent interview with Sophia Stewart. In her last response she goes over some of the "parallels" of her characters in comparison to the matrix. I remain skeptical.

K-Wise 02-13-2005 03:31 PM

^ Haha I love the element you're adding to this post. It's great. Keep it comin. :thumbsup: Hey is that supposed to be Seinfeld in yer avatar? Just curious.

Asta!!

Lasereth 02-13-2005 03:32 PM

*EDIT* Server screwed up.

-Lasereth

Mr. Spacemonkey 02-13-2005 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K-Wise
^ Haha I love the element you're adding to this post. It's great. Keep it comin. :thumbsup: Hey is that supposed to be Seinfeld in yer avatar? Just curious.

Asta!!

Yeah, what can I say? I'm a huge fanboy of the matrix trilogy (probably one of the few, seems like most people hate the last one). And to think it could be stolen material brings me down a bit. So of course I have to hope she's lying. Go Wachowski Brothers!! ... and ... James Cameron ... I guess ...

And yeah, that's Seinfeld in my avatar. It's a frame capture from the animated series, The Clerks.

K-Wise 02-13-2005 03:41 PM

I KNEW IT! hahaha

Asta!!

charlesesl 02-14-2005 10:43 AM

This pretty much explains why the second and the third espisode sucked so much compared to the first one.

YaWhateva 02-14-2005 12:12 PM

I believe she should get lal the money she damn well deserves. She wrote the damn movies and the Wachowski brothers had that call for science fiction screenplays. Then they took it from her and based a movie around what she wrote without so much as even giving her minimal credit. Then they wrote two additional movies which blew ass.

Give her her damn money she deserves it since the Wachowski brothers are shitty movie makers. This hasn't been in the main media whatsoever since Time Warner is the owners of the movie and they own probably around 95% of the mainstream media or at least have a lot of control in that media.

Mr. Spacemonkey 02-14-2005 01:16 PM

What are you talking about? Unless you have some sort of information that I don't, she hasn't even won the case. No one owes her shit unless/until she wins the case.

In case you missed it and jumped to conclusions:

Quote:

CORRECTION REGARDING PREVIOUS STORY

In reference to the recent article entitled "Mother of the Matrix Victorious," some information has been deemed misleading. Ms. Sophia Stewart has not yet won her case against Joel Silver, Time Warner and the Wachowski Bros. The decision on October 4th enabled Ms. Stewart to proceed with her case, as all attempts to have it dismissed were unsuccessful. Ms. Stewart's case will proceed through the Central District Court of California.

Thanks,
The Globe Staff
And I don't know why I'm taking the time to address this but the Wachowski brothers are not shitty movie makers. The Matrix raised the bar for scifi films to come and took the visual aspects of filmmaking to a new high.

Once again, don't know why I'm even addressing it, but. The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded both got good reviews, so obviously they didn't "blow ass." As for the Revolutions, there are many people who tend to think that it sucked. Although, I would argue this is because they couldn't understand it ... That's all I'll say about that.

YaWhateva 02-14-2005 10:57 PM

I know she hasn't won the case, and nowhere did I say that she has. I am saying that she she should get all the money she deserves because she did wright the screenplays for the first Matrix movie. Yes the first Matrix was good, extremely good, that is because the Wachowski brothers had something good to go off of. When they had to think for themselves they completely screwed up the second and third movies. I should have clarified, the may know how to make a movie, but they do not know how to write a movie. There is a HUGE difference.

K-Wise 02-15-2005 04:38 AM

^ A lot of what made the movies watchable were the special effects and prop teams behind the movie which the Wachowski's had nothing to do with what so ever. These are guys that are picked and hired to do their job..then they're paid and they go home. The thing the Wachowski's were supposed to be responsable for were the writing (which was supposedly stolen) and the direction...which was pretty good as far as I can tell...I'm sure a lot of it was probably like "Okay make this face and move in this direction..good cut now send it to the effects team!" but asside from that I can't recall anything that bothered me when I watched them...although I was a little distracted by the effects...I honestly didn't really know what hell they were talking about at first.

I'd think with as complex a story as it is the direction would have been really difficult jumping from one bizzare hacking event to the next without making it seem choppy.

In that area I can give respect where it's due..unless it wasn't really them directing it either and they just hired someone to do it for them while they supervised...I'm sure a lot of directors do that. Whatever I can't wait to find out the end result.

This is my question now if she loses the case(which would be pretty fuckin sad) should that automatically make her a liar? That she just made up the idea of the Wachowski Brothers stealing her idea and lied about the supposed call for sci-fi flicks? That she's kidding herself if she thinks The Third Eye in anyway what so ever resembles The Matrix? If she does win will you still not believe it?

Asta!!

Charlatan 02-15-2005 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YaWhateva
I know she hasn't won the case, and nowhere did I say that she has. I am saying that she she should get all the money she deserves because she did wright the screenplays for the first Matrix movie. Yes the first Matrix was good, extremely good, that is because the Wachowski brothers had something good to go off of. When they had to think for themselves they completely screwed up the second and third movies. I should have clarified, the may know how to make a movie, but they do not know how to write a movie. There is a HUGE difference.

I see no solid evidence that this woman has written the scripts. She has some similarities in her story but not much else...

If this is true, then should Shinobu Hashimoto and Ryuzo Kikushima be given some of the money that was made on Star Wars: A New Hope? Shinobu Hashimoto and Ryuzo Kikushima are the writers on Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film, Kakushi toride no san akunin (The Hidden Fortress). Much of this film was lifted and "infused" into what we know as Star Wars.

What the similarieties in story between Ringo Lam's 1987 film, Long hu feng yun (City on Fire) and Tarrantino's Resevoir Dogs?

The fact is people are influenced all the time. Should the makers of Ghost in the Shell come after the Wachoski's? Hell should the Wachoski's go after all the imitators of their films?


Yes, there may be some story similarities from the draft that she allegedly sent the Wachowski Brothers. If she has a legal leg to stand on, she will win out in a court of law. But reading her, story above, doesn't indicate to me that she wrote The Matrix. At best, she *may* have inspired some bits but she is *far* from the genius you paint her to be.

Mr. Spacemonkey 02-15-2005 08:08 AM

Thank you Charlatan. And:

Quote:

Originally Posted by K-Wise
This is my question now if she loses the case(which would be pretty fuckin sad) should that automatically make her a liar? That she just made up the idea of the Wachowski Brothers stealing her idea and lied about the supposed call for sci-fi flicks? That she's kidding herself if she thinks The Third Eye in anyway what so ever resembles The Matrix? If she does win will you still not believe it?

Yes, Yes, No, No. If she loses the case, there is probably damn good reason she lost it. Don't just put blind faith in her and believe everything she says, unless of course you've read the entire manuscript for The Third Eye. And directing a movie isn't as easy as you make it out to be. Director's have to be involved in a little bit of everything. In my opinion, the Director is the most important part of the movie.

jonjon42 02-15-2005 06:43 PM

I'm not sure on this one, to make an infomred decision I would need to see the manuscript and compare. Personally thought, from the pages i have read (posted earlier, I see that they pulled from some of the same sources (bible is the most obvious) and maybe her manuscript had some influence over the Wachoski's writing, but I don't see anything blatant. Of course I've only read 2 pages.

I also see ALOT of influence from several different animes in the matrix series, which is why I look at this slightly skeptical

Lasereth 02-16-2005 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Spacemonkey
And I don't know why I'm taking the time to address this but the Wachowski brothers are not shitty movie makers. The Matrix raised the bar for scifi films to come and took the visual aspects of filmmaking to a new high.

Once again, don't know why I'm even addressing it, but. The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded both got good reviews, so obviously they didn't "blow ass." As for the Revolutions, there are many people who tend to think that it sucked. Although, I would argue this is because they couldn't understand it ... That's all I'll say about that.

You're not alone. :) Among my top 5 favorite movies, The Matrix Trilogy makes up 3 of them. I consider all three movies sci-fi excellence, especially Reloaded. Revolutions was spectacular. I think I actually like the first movie the less of the three even though it's still one of my favorites. 90% of the people saying that they hated the sequels are simply too closed minded and ignorant to understand the story, WANT to understand the story, or accept that the first movie was NOT how the Brothers wanted it to be. I wouldn't make any changes to the trilogy -- it began and ended exactly how I would want it to.

-Lasereth

YaWhateva 02-16-2005 05:35 PM

i know the story to the trilogy. Still don't like it. With the exception of the first one. That one was "sci-fi excellence".

whocarz 02-17-2005 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lasereth
I wonder if it's been discussed if Warner Brothers edited the movie so it wouldn't be similar to Stewart's work to prevent this very situation? If I were producing a billion dollar franchise and saw similiarities with another copyrighted piece of material then I'd make the necessary precautions as well.

-Lasereth

Except for the fact that they didn't know that it would be so successful. It was not a franchise at the beginning. They had the funding to make one movie. They got the money (and most likely the idea) to make the second and third movies based off of the first's box office success.

I enjoyed the first, and think it's a good movie. The second and third, however, just didn't grab me. They had their moments which I thought were cool, but I don't normally go into movies to try and "get" some deeper meaning. As long as I enjoy the movie at face value, then it wasn't a waste of my time. While I wouldn't call the second or third movies a waste of my time, I saw them once, and that was good enough for me. I have watched the first multiple times, however, simply because I believe it is a more entertaining film to me.

Perhaps you should take a look in the mirror if you call people close-minded and ignorant just because they don't agree with you about something.

d*d 02-17-2005 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlatan
If this is true, then should Shinobu Hashimoto and Ryuzo Kikushima be given some of the money that was made on Star Wars: A New Hope? Shinobu Hashimoto and Ryuzo Kikushima are the writers on Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film, Kakushi toride no san akunin (The Hidden Fortress). Much of this film was lifted and "infused" into what we know as Star Wars.

I see no similarity here, those were films - she submitted a script, which they used and didn't pay her. Also I thought someone else had already sued james cameron for the terminator, the problem is that the themes in both films are pretty common in sci fi

Charlatan 02-17-2005 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d*d
I see no similarity here, those were films - she submitted a script, which they used and didn't pay her. Also I thought someone else had already sued james cameron for the terminator, the problem is that the themes in both films are pretty common in sci fi

I don't think that it is clear that she submitted anything or they stole anything... yet.

Innocent until proven guilty.

Yes, peoples ideas, stories and scripts are stolen all the time... On the flip side of this, people who have made a lot of money on their films are often accused of stealing when this didn't...

At this point, all we have is a statement from a woman who has made some claims. Are they valid claims? I all for, "Let's wait and see."



By the way, I have the business card of a gentleman who claims to be the VP of Time Warner... who has the rights to re-make The Wizard of Oz and will be doing so with Steven... you know, Speilberg. He dropped by my suite at the American Film Market wanted to see if I was interested in some of his other projects... There are a lot of wackos in this industry and it is with good reason that people take these claims with a large grain of salt.

d*d 02-17-2005 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlatan
I don't think that it is clear that she submitted anything or they stole anything... yet.

Innocent until proven guilty.

Completely agree with that just wanted to point out the differences between the case in point and the examples you used.

Also I found out it was Harlan ellison who successfully sued James Cameron because he claimed terminator was lifted from his stories "Demon with a Glass Hand" and "Soldier". This makes me skeptical about the validity of this story

Lasereth 02-17-2005 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whocarz
They got the money (and most likely the idea) to make the second and third movies based off of the first's box office success.

No, the Wachowski's made the first movie with two sequels already planned. They actually altered the first movie to make it work even if there were no sequels in case it flopped. When the first movie did do well, they began producing the sequels (which is more of how they wanted the first movie to be like).

Quote:

Originally Posted by whocarz
Perhaps you should take a look in the mirror if you call people close-minded and ignorant just because they don't agree with you about something.

Read my post wiseguy, I didn't call people ignorant and close-minded because they didn't enjoy the movies, I called them ignorant and close-minded because they hated the movies for the wrong reasons. Many people hated the movies because they didn't understand them and didn't WANT to understand them. Just read some of the opinions on the Internet as to why the sequels were "bad." Most of it is based on information about the movies (especially plot details) that is simply wrong. Check out the Matrix threads on this very forum...over half of the replies are saying the sequels sucked because of a misunderstanding of the plot and the refusal to be corrected. I even recall one person saying that Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions sucked because "in the first one, Neo beat Smith, but now Neo can't beat Smith!!! Man these movies are bad!"

That's a great example of saying the movies are bad based on false information and a complete misunderstanding of the story. When I corrected the person, they would not accept the real plot. That's ignorance. If you simply hated the sequels, that's fine with me, but don't base it on false information else your opinion is invalid.

-Lasereth

Charlatan 02-17-2005 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d*d
Completely agree with that just wanted to point out the differences between the case in point and the examples you used.

Also I found out it was Harlan ellison who successfully sued James Cameron because he claimed terminator was lifted from his stories "Demon with a Glass Hand" and "Soldier". This makes me skeptical about the validity of this story

as for the differences between written screenplay and finished film... I do see the difference but ultimately it comes down to the same issue...

A stolen idea or story.

It is one thing to remake a film, for example La Femme Nikita and Point of No Return. Money exchanged hands for the rights to the film. However, in the examples I gave above, the American filmmakers claim that they were inspired by the original film.

I am postive that Tarrantino didn't give a cent to Ringo Lam (or the rights holders to the story behind City on Fire).


That said, I also recognize the difference between her (allegedly) submitting a script to the Wachowski Brothers and them (allegedly) stealing her ideas.

Mr. Spacemonkey 08-20-2005 07:55 PM

Update for anyone who gives a shit ...

Link - http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/matrix.asp

Quote:

Stewart's case was dismissed in June 2005 when she failed to show up for a preliminary hearing of her case. In a 53-page ruling, Judge Margaret Morrow of the Central District Court of California dismissed the suit, saying Stewart and her attorneys had not entered any evidence to bolster its key claims or demonstrated any striking similarity between her work and the accused directors' films. As of this writing, Stewart's case is no longer before the courts. She has announced that she does not plan to let the matter drop, so possibly this case will someday be re-filed and heard, but for now it is over.

A less than accurate newspaper article about Stewart and her case caused many to believe the woman claiming authorship had won her copyright infringement suit and was about to receive a multi-billion dollar settlement. This 28 October 2004 article, penned by a second-year communications student for the Salt Lake Community College Globe, erred in mistaking Stewart's 4 October 2004 successful counter to a dismissal motion for her having prevailed in her suit. The article asserted Stewart "will recover damages from the films, The Matrix I, II and III, as well as The Terminator and its sequels" and would "soon receive one of the biggest payoffs in the history of Hollywood." What Stewart had won was the right to proceed with her case, but nothing more.

Stiltzkin 08-21-2005 10:04 PM

I should also have instinctively looked it up on Snopes. I knew it was bullshit from the beginning, as hinted by my original post in this thread.


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