REEL NEWS
Expelled Tops Yoko
John Lennon's widow loses suit against producers for using "Imagine" in film. Plus: Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee squabble; Christopher Lee wants to be Saruman again; and Keira Knightley in My Fair Lady remake?
by Peter T. Chattaway | posted 6/09/2008
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Yoko Ono lost to the producers of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowedlast week, in the first round of her legal efforts to stop them from using a 15-second portion of her late husband John Lennon's song "Imagine."
Ono had sued them for using the clip in a sequence which raises questions about the merits of a basically secular and atheistic culture. But the judge, Sidney Stein—no relation to Ben Stein, the star and co-writer of Expelled—said last Monday he would not grant a preliminary injunction requiring the filmmakers to remove the clip because, if the case went to court, the filmmakers would probably win under the fair use doctrine, which allows for short excerpts if the filmmakers are commenting on them.
"They put the song to a different purpose, selected an excerpt containing the ideas they wished to critique, paired the music and lyrics with images that contrast with the song's utopian expression, and placed the excerpt in the context of a debate regarding the role of religion in the public life," wrote the judge, whose decision is available as a PDF file via Wired and the Wall Street Journal.
The WSJ website notes that a parallel lawsuit, filed by EMI Music, is still pending. EMI's lawsuit concerns the recording of John Lennon's song, whereas Ono's lawsuit concerned the musical composition of the song. According to the Journal, EMI has allowed the song to be used in only one film, The Killing Fields—though presumably some version of it was also used in the Ono-approved documentary Imagine: John Lennon.
In court a couple weeks earlier, Anthony Falzone, a lawyer who specializes in fair-use cases, argued that the issue needed to be resolved soon because the film's DVD rights needed to be finalized by the end of May so that the film could be released to home video in October. Falzone also noted that the filmmakers were planning to release the film to Canadian theaters in June; the Canadian release date has since been revealed to be June 27.
According to the Associated Press, Falzone said the film and its release schedule needed to be left as they were because it could have an effect on the American presidential election in November. "If you issue that injunction, you trample on these free speech rights and you put a muzzle on them and you do it in a way that stops them from speaking on this political issue leading up to the election," he said.
Ono, who filed the lawsuit with Lennon's sons Sean and Julian, has said that she will appeal the ruling.
Since it was released in the United States on April 18, Expelled has grossed $7.6 million and become one of the dozen top-grossing documentaries of all time, according to Box Office Mojo.
In other movie news:
Clint Eastwood says Spike Lee should "shut his face" (Guardian)
Objects to Lee's criticisms; Lee says Eastwood sounds like an "angry old man"
Christopher Lee says he would like to be in Hobbit (Empire)
Expresses interest in exploring Saruman's "transition from good to evil"
Keira Knightley attached to remake of My Fair Lady (Variety)
New version of the musical will use more material from the original play Pygmalion
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