Rian Johnson: Bad guys aren’t allowed to use Apple products in movies
By Dan Selcke
Close your eyes and picture someone holding an iPhone in their hands. Now look up. If you saw a selfless hero, possibly a firefighter who just rescued a baby from a burning building or a superhero who just rescued a baby from a burning building, you and Apple are on the same page.
This comes from Rian Johnson, the director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out. He talked to Vanity Fair about his murder mystery hit, but the most interesting part of the interview may have been when he got frank about the restrictions Apple puts on filmmakers who want to have Apple products in their work.
“I don’t know if I should say this or not,” Johnson said. “[Apple lets] you use iPhones in movies…[but] bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera.”
"This is very pivotal if you’re ever watching a mystery movie. It’s going to screw me on the next mystery movie that I write…Every single filmmaker that has a bad guy in their movie that’s supposed to be a secret wants to murder me right now."
Indeed, I know the next time I watch a movie, I’ll be looking out for who’s using Androids. You’ve gotta watch out for those types.
Looking at Apple’s trademark and copyright guidelines, it does indeed look like they keep tight control over how their products are used. They’ll give out a license, sure, but only if, among other things, “The Apple product is shown only in the best light, in a manner or context that reflects favorably on the Apple products and on Apple Inc.”
Companies protecting their brand like this is nothing new. For example, Wired noticed years ago that the good guys on 24 used Macs while the bad guys used PCs.
The solution to this problem is simple: if you’re making a mystery movie and don’t want to give away who the villain is, set your story in an alternate world where every has Samsung Galaxies.
Next. This is why Mushu isn’t in Disney’s live-action Mulan movie. dark
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