I got yelled at yesterday after I posted this article about Jennifer Aniston on the set of her new movie, based on Elmore Leonard’s The Switch. The synopsis is very similar to Ruthless People. So there was all kinds of rage about how this project is a rip-off and why can’t anyone come up with any original ideas.
But, um, Leonard’s The Switch was released in 1978. And Ruthless People came out in 1986. So, erm, if they’re making a movie based on The Switch, technically it’s not a copy then, right? Further, did Ruthless People acknowledge that their story was so similar to Leonard’s? And if an endorsed (and presumably faithful) adaptation of The Switch, by Elmore Leonard, is now being produced, are they then obliged to reference Ruthless People...when, really, their source came first? Why should they?
It would be like Stephenie Meyer having to somehow give her respects to EL James for Fifty Shades Of Grey. No.
Anyway, here’s Jen wearing her hair blonde and Minivan wavy today, a proper rich man’s wife. The story is supposed to be set in Detroit but they’re shooting in Connecticut because, according to the location manager, Justin Theroux is in New York and Jen didn’t want to be too far away from him.
So this is the question then:
Fair or not fair?
A star of her stature, she can make that call any time about where they shoot. The big ones do it all the time. They have it written into their contracts all the time. We sh-t on her for it, we have to sh-t on an entire institution. Do we have to sh-t on her for this? You tell me and I’ll do it.
