Our cover, and your discussion, of the story from Empire about the top Directors of all time (until the polls finished) has attracted the attention of Film Rot, great guys! Not because they want to cover the story, but rather they have a superb quote from the writer Harlan Ellison talking about his liking and total respect for the number one slotted Steven Spielberg
Science fiction writer Harlan Ellison told SCI FI Wire at Enigma Con in LA exactly what he thought about the best director of all time and his new alien flick…
“What annoys me is that Spielberg is such an egomaniac these days that it has to be ‘Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. No, you puss-bag. It’s H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, and it wouldn’t kill you to put his f–king name on it.”
Oh that’s such a good quote there, and spot on too. I must admit I haven’t been giving it two seconds thought, and then it hit me like a brick. Where is H. G. Wells name in all of this? I think the same hard stamp has been placed on the Orson Welles radio play, but I’m sure that wasn’t the case at the time and has been a more modern change.
There is a lot of arrogance in Hollywood at the top end of the market. The practice of various stars, Directors, Writers, etc turning into one name says it all. They become a brand, and icon, and can they control that icon once it gets that big? Is it Spielberg placing that on the title or the studio?
