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 Post subject: Personal Attacks And Pressure From Paramount
PostPosted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 8:00 am 
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Martian War Lord

Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:01 pm
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Author: Michael Simpson
Date: 09-14-2005
Source: SyFy Portal

This is the first part of two in our chat with Timothy Hines, chief executive officer of Pendragon Pictures and director of the studio's most recent film, "H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds."

Timothy Hines attracted attention in September 2004 when he announced that he had completed principal photography on an independent version of "War of the Worlds." However, a series of production problems (described in an earlier SyFy Portal article) prompted posters on Internet message boards to suggest that Hines had made misleading remarks about distribution rights and the quality of his film. Hines said he has suspected, however, that these criticisms may be part of a longer term attempt to undermine his credibility.

"A small band of anonymous cowards have been attacking me for about three years or so in these two or three groups," Hines recently told SyFy Portal's Michael Simpson. "I say 'attacking me' because that is what it has mostly been. Attacks on me individually. To these people, the movie itself has simply been an additional platform over which to vent at me."

Charles Keller, director of the American H.G. Wells Society, told SyFy Portal that the Internet Movie Database message board has been one of the focal points for this "venting." Both Keller and Hines have said they noticed that critics at IMDb attack Hines and anyone that supports him there.

Hines' suspicions that these criticisms are personal attacks rather than reasonable critiques of his film are fuelled by another observation, also made by Keller, that they began appearing long before the film was released.

"They were calling me Ed Wood and saying my film was like 'Plan Nine from Outer Space' and 'Mystery Science Theatre' before anybody had actually seen [it]," Hines said. "It was later pointed out to me that this same little group had been [doing this] for about two years prior to the film's release. Two years! Wow."

Some of these criticisms probably come from "unbalanced stalker types living in their parents' basements," Hines said, referring to a case where Pendragon obtained an injunction against a correspondent who wrote 169 e-mails to him over two months. Hines, however, said he wonders if some of the criticism is semi-organised, and he is willing to suggest who might be behind it.

"I think anybody that tried to make 'War of the Worlds' at the same time as DreamWorks would have faced some serious opposition and subversive criticism," Hines said. "I and my producer, Susan Goforth, were warned face to face by a DreamWorks producer in his home not to proceed with a movie that Tom Cruise also wanted to make. We were told that if we went forward, that Tom Cruise's people would come at us in a thousand ways and that we would never know it was him. We were told that anonymous chatters would work around the clock to shill the Internet into hating us."

Critics have accused Hines of paranoia and egotism over his suggestions that DreamWorks could be concerned about his film. But big studios are always on watch for the next "Blair Witch Project," he said.

He also said that DreamWorks’ distributor, Paramount, contacted Pendragon several times to define "boundaries" and put the Seattle-based studio "on legal notice." This could be interpreted as Paramount taking reasonable precautions to protect its interests, but Hines has his doubts.

"The odd thing was that while Paramount was threatening litigation with us, they were telling the media and industry insiders that they had had no contact with us," Hines said. "But they were caught with a smoking gun by Susanne Ault at Variety Business News. She asked Paramount about lawsuits or legal threats against us and Paramount denied any contact with us. Then Ms. Ault produced threat letters to us from Paramount's attorneys and Paramount answered, 'No comment,' and refused to talk with her further."

Hines' claims are corroborated in an article by Ms. Ault on the Video Business Web site. In it she names Jonathan Zavin, a New York partner in the law firm of Loeb & Loeb, as the attorney that contacted Pendragon between 2001 and 2004. Zavin is a member of the Executive Committee of the Copyright Society of the USA. According to the law firm’s website, he has extensive experience in intellectual property litigation and his clients have included major film studios and producers.

Hines also said he was feeling heat from companies working on other "War of the Worlds" productions.

"Jeff Wayne's attorney, who, by the way, pretends to be a fan with no financial interest in 'War of the Worlds' on the forums, has hit us with several legal maneuvers and legal threats," said Hines. "Every one of their claims was bogus and it was clear to us that they were attempting to draw our focus at a very critical time and/or see what they could get out of us. I've never had any problems with Jeff Wayne prior to that, but I have no respect for the way he has allowed his attorney to behave, on his behalf."

In an interview Hines gave on the Eve of the War Web site, he suggested that a lot of coincidences connected Paramount with another independent version of "War of the Worlds" that was released this year by Asylum. That film, like Spielberg's, was a modernized take on Wells' tale. Hines’ suggestion was rooted in the notion that it might represent an attempt to deflect attention from his "authentic" version.

"Associates of mine in marketing think the Asylum picture was created to confuse the public, yes. Without the Asylum quickie, the public would have been comparing my film to Spielberg's for better or worse. With the Asylum version in place, the public sees Tom Cruise's movie and these other 'knock off' films. I don't know if any of that is true or not. There are a lot of 'coincidences' relating to their version. But I haven't given them much thought. And their numbers have never even come close to ours. Besides Blockbuster, which coincidentally is owned by Viacom, parent corporation of Paramount, they haven't had much distribution."

David Michael Latt, director of the Asylum movie, told War of the Worlds Online that he shelved an early draft of his film after hearing of Dreamworks’ production. A backer then unexpectedly asked for it to be fast-tracked. I could find no evidence, however, that a major studio was involved. Asylum did produce a TV movie, "Max Knight: Ultra Spy," for UPN in 2000, but that is the only explicit association I could find with Paramount-related companies.

Hines is loathe to suggest that there has been a conspiracy against his film, but he said that some companies, were pressurized by Paramount to distance themselves from the project.

"Paramount freely went around spreading lies, rumors and threats to any and everybody doing business with us or thinking of doing business with us," he said. "We had countless publishers, editors, distributors, members of the media, etc., come back to us to tell us that people from Paramount threatened that they would pull product or in some way cripple them if they did business with us. I don't know if conspiracy is the word for it, but there is another word that this kind of behavior walks a fine line against. I think it's called anti-trust."

On Pendragon's Web site Hines is quoted as saying that among those threatened was Forbes magazine, which published an article in March mocking Hines and his DVD distributor UAV. Another source told me that Paramount Publicity was less than pleased with an interview with Hines that was published in another magazine.

Pendragon's intention had been to give "War of the Worlds" a theatrical release. When this didn't happen critics suggested that Hines had withdrawn the film because its quality wasn’t fit for the cinema. But this, too, was apparently due to pressure from Paramount.

"We had much distribution in place, or so I thought," Hines said. "As the zero hour neared, exhibitors and distributors all began jumping ship. Virtually everyone stated that they were afraid of going up against Paramount/Dreamworks in the face of threats. When we realized we were left with art house runs of our film, we decided not to make the gamble as we were unclear as to what would Paramount really do."

Pendragon's film ultimately got a limited release on DVD. This was supposed to be accompanied by books on the making of the film. However, the publisher, RetroVision, recently cancelled those. Hines' critics saw this as further evidence that his picture was a disaster with which no-one wished to be associated. But Hines said it was his decision.

"The publisher contacted me numerous times to finish delivery of the final manuscripts," Hines said. "I simply felt it was too much and too soon. To launch those books during the height of Paramount's publicity machine grinding away would not have served anyone. The publisher and I are instead re-conceiving the books. In the fall we are thinking of releasing both screenplays from my updated version and the period version with commentary."

When I asked RetroVision's Ed Gross about the cancellation, he told me a similar story.

"As Pendragon's version of 'War of the Worlds' neared its release date on DVD, and then passed it, it became obvious to me that publishing not one but two books on its making no longer made sense," Gross said. "Tim and I have had a conversation about possibly altering our approach to the material and going forward, but I'm still awaiting a follow up to that conversation to determine if it will actually happen."

Since the DVD release, Hines himself has been subjected to accusations of promoting his film by posting positive reviews on Amazon.com, owners of IMDb. These allegations are "absurd," he said. He accused big studios of hiring people to "squat in the chat groups and forums and sway public opinion," but he said that it wouldn’t be worth his time.

"Shilling requires an effort and commitment that only pays off if you are reaching large audiences," Hines said. "When the big studios do it, it is part of a total plan coordinated for a limited time with a massive advertising and marketing campaign. From a purely practical standpoint, Amazon.com is only responsible for less than a fraction of a percent of our sales. If we stopped selling on Amazon today, our sales number would be virtually unchanged."

No one reads the Amazon reviews anyway, Hines said. He referred to a period when his film remained in the Amazon.com Top 20 even while customer reviewers were linking him with Nazis and devil worshipers.

In the second part of this interview, Timothy Hines responds to criticisms about factual errors, budget claims and the acting and special effects in Pendragon’s "War of the Worlds."


Lee
Eve Of The War Webmaster
http://www.eveofthewar.co.uk
"The War Of The Worlds Website"

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 Post subject: Re: Personal Attacks And Pressure From Paramount
PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:46 pm 
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eveofthewar wrote:
Author: Michael Simpson
Date: 09-14-2005
Source: SyFy Portal
..."A small band of anonymous cowards have been attacking me for about three years or so in these two or three groups," Hines recently told SyFy Portal's Michael Simpson....Hines' suspicions that these criticisms are personal attacks rather than reasonable critiques of his film are fuelled by another observation, also made by Keller, that they began appearing long before the film was released.


Maybe someone IS after Hines, but paranoia, justified or not, doesn't make his film any better. There's too much of blame diversion in this interview. It smacks of a distraction atempt akin to a man on trial for murdering his mother, appealing to they sympathies of the jury on the grounds that he is (now) an orphan.


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:42 pm 
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Tripod King

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gypsywlf wrote:
[it's] akin to a man on trial for murdering his mother, appealing to the sympathies of the jury on the grounds that he is (now) an orphan.

:lol: =D>

That article is utter bollocks.

And the so-called 'reporter' who wrote it is clearly a gullible hack. Had he bothered to check anything, he would have seen what a tissue of evasions, half-truths, outright lies and paranoid nonsense it is. Of course, had he even bothered just to watch the film he'd never have given Little Timbo the time of day.


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:48 pm 
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Martian War Lord

Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:00 pm
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The Twilight Zone.

Complete fantasy. If you think me and others on the forums are part of some sort of conspiracy against you Timbo, then you need to go and see your shrink. :help: You made a really sh*t film of something we all love and most of us could see it was gong to be an awful film by watching the first and then second trailers.


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:29 pm 
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Is this for real????? :a009:


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 10:04 pm 
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Sadly, HRP, it is. Little Timmy is a numptie of the first order. A paranoid, delusional, egocentric twonk who is oblivious to the fact that he has created one of the worst films in history, yet still has the gall to defend himself at every opportunity by weaving ever more absurd conspiracy theories.

Still, it isn't half entertaining!


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:02 pm 
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Speilberg has been equally attacked for his picture. But he doesn't feel the need to write an article on it.
The man knows no shame. I forked out bucks for his awful picture. I wasted valuable life points veiwing it.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:09 pm 
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Martian War Lord

Joined: Sun May 29, 2005 5:02 pm
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I liked Spielberg's adaptation. As a matter of fact I drew two of the Tripods of that movie on my image. You can see the image at the WOTW IMAGE thread in the Computer & Arcade Games forum. One of them fires it's 'Heat' Rays.


The Tempest is an advanced assault vehicle, which carries two heavy Heat-Rays and a Canister Launcher.
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 12:57 am 
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Martian War Lord

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Heat Ray Projector wrote:
I wasted valuable life points veiwing it.

Yes, thats 3 hours of your life you can't get back :(


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 6:26 pm 
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Martian War Lord

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I've never seen the Pendragon version in whole, actually, but from the fragments I saw with the trailers and from the funny vids I encountered here, I knew it was crap.


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 10:21 pm 
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Martian War Lord

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Same here :D


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 2:20 pm 
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Well, I have no doubt that the man was sincere in his wish to produce a good WOTW film, and I have no doubt he and his team were the subject of attempted legal action of dubious strength. I am also sure that distrubution of the film to cinemas was impeded by threats from Dreamworks and Paramount.

However none of this changes the fact that the film was a great big turkey.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:30 pm 
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Martian War Lord

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I don't like turkeys... :mrgreen:


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:42 pm 
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:roll: Next thing you know, Tim'll be saying the gypsies put a curse on his film.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:16 pm 
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Lonesome Crow wrote:
Heat Ray Projector wrote:
I wasted valuable life points veiwing it.

Yes, thats 3 hours of your life you can't get back :(


I said the same thing after watching SW EP3.


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:20 pm 
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Martian War Lord

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Watching a car number plate for three hours is a terrible waste of time. :roll:


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:37 pm 
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Loz wrote:
Watching a car number plate for three hours is a terrible waste of time. :roll:

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:37 pm 
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Martian War Lord

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Loz wrote:
Watching a car number plate for three hours is a terrible waste of time. :roll:
:lol: :lol: :lol: Yes what is SW EP3?


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 5:49 am 
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Martian War Lord

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I believe he meant Star Wars Episode 3... :-k


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:31 pm 
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Indeed I did mean Star Wars.


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:20 pm 
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*cough*maybeitsbecousethismovieisrubbish*cough*

Oops sorry

maybe its becouse this movie is rubbish.


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:24 am 
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neoendgame wrote:
*cough*maybeitsbecousethismovieisrubbish*cough*

Oops sorry

maybe its becouse this movie is rubbish.


i believe this man has it surrounded...


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:31 am 
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Martian War Lord

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I believe he has a cough!


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Last edited by Loz on Sat Oct 08, 2005 9:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 11:08 am 
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Martian War Lord

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I believe that, too.


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