coalition of disability groups blasted Ben Stiller’s latest movie Tropic Thunder on Tuesday, slamming the spoof war film’s repeated use of the word “retard” as “disgusting and appalling.”
The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) said in a statement it had rallied disability groups urging a boycott of the film, which is released in North America theaters later this week.
Protesters demonstrated at the Los Angeles premiere of the film on Monday, which was attended by Meet the Parents, Night at the Museum and Zoolander actor-director Stiller.
The associated has taken aim at Tropic Thunder for depicting a caricature of an intellectually disabled person — Simple Jack — played by Stiller’s character, an egotistical Hollywood star seeking awards.
Although Stiller has said the sub-plot is intended as a satire on Hollywood, the associated described it as a “continuation of the horrifying portrayal of disabled characters in entertainment.”
“AAPD is also disgusted at the use of the word ‘retard’ numerous times in the movie and promotional items for the film,” the group said.
AAPD president Andrew Imparato, who met with studio backers Dreamworks last week to discuss the movie, slammed the film after viewing it on Monday.
“Both the use of this word and the appalling portrayal of an intellectually disabled character in this movie are incredibly damaging to people with intellectual disabilities,” Imparato said.
“Although the movie is considered satire, this depiction of a person with intellectual disabilities is far from funny.”
Dreamworks has defended the film, insisting the humor is intended to lampoon actors rather than people with disabilities.
Tropic Thunder, which also stars Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr, follows the fortunes of a group of actors who are sent to make a war film only to find themselves in the middle of a real-life conflict.
Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank has bought the rights for a film version of the best-selling book French Women Don’t Get Fat, entertainment press reported on Wednesday.
Swank, an Academy Award winner for Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby could star in a screen adaptation of Mireille Guiliano’s hit 2004 lifestyle tome, Daily Variety reported.
Guiliano, a former executive with champagne company Veuve Clicquot, scored a hit with her book, subtitled The Secret of Eating for Pleasure which offered insights into how French women manage to stay slim despite enjoying calorie-rich staples such as pastries and wine.
The book reached top spot on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list and has sold more than two million copies worldwide to date.
Variety reported that the film version would be a romantic comedy about the boss of a champagne company.
George Clooney has snapped up the film rights for a book based on the detention and trial of Osama bin Laden’s driver, it was reported on Wednesday.
Daily Variety said it was not clear what role Oscar-winning actor-director Clooney would take in the project, which will be based on Jonathan Mahler’s book The Challenge.
The story spotlights the efforts of US Navy lawyer Charles Swift and Georgetown law professor Neal Katyal to secure a fair trial for Salim Hamdan, who was last week sentenced to less than five years in prison.
The sentence was later described by Swift as a “stunning rebuke” to the government’s case against Hamdan. Prosecutors had demanded the Yemeni be jailed for 30 years, portraying him as a cunning al-Qaeda warrior.
According to Variety, Clooney could direct, write and star in the film. The report said Clooney was considered a perfect choice to play the role of the idealistic lawyer Swift.
Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie as the mother of a missing boy, and Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, featuring Mickey Rourke as a washed-up pro wrestler, are among the highlights at this year’s New York Film Festival.
The festival announced its 28-film lineup on Wednesday, including a restored print of Max Ophuls’ 1955 classic Lola Montes. The 46th annual event, run by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, will be held Sept. 26 to Oct. 12.
The opening-night film is The Class, Laurent Cantet’s documentary-like drama about a year at a rough French high school. It won the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The New York festival closes with The Wrestler, in which Rourke plays a former wrestling star now relegated to the bush leagues of his sport.
Changeling, based on a true story, is about a single mother whose 9-year-old son disappears in Los Angeles in 1928. Months later, police bring her a boy who claims to be her son, but she doesn’t believe him and sets out to unravel the mystery with the help of a local minister played by John Malkovich.
Other prominent directors at the festival include Steven Soderbergh, Mike Leigh and Wong Kar Wai (王家衛).
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built