Quote:
Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs  That shows a great sense of generosity, particularly as the situation in which Alan Moore finds himself is dreadful.
Imagine spending months or years writing something and then, several years later, the company which owns the rights to your book wants to, much to your disgust, make it into a film. On one hand you'd want to make as much money as possible but, on the other, in winter to maintain your integrity, you insist your name isn't associated with the project and you refuse to take a penny.
More power to him. |
It's genuinely quite impressive. I mean, I know he's not likely to ever struggle for money but the temptation would still be there. He's amusingly glib about it too, as this transcript of an interview with Stewart Lee shows:
SL: I'm assuming you haven't seen the film of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."
AM: No, no, no, no. (audience laughs) In fact, I'm getting worse instead of better with regard to the film. That was a spectacular tantrum, even by my standards, I surprised myself.
I've decided I don't want anything more to do with films at all. After all the stuff with "The League," there'd been some minor law suit with somebody claiming that I had gotten the idea from an American Hollywood screen writer and you can imagine how I felt about that. So, I felt, if I'm going to react I might as well over react. (audience laughs) So, I said, right, that's it, no more Hollywood films. And if they do make films of my work, then I want my name taken off them and I want all the money given to the artists. I thought, God, that sounds principled (audience laughs) and almost heroic! (audience laughs) Then I got a phone call from Karen Berger the next Monday, she's an editor at DC Comics, and she said, "Yeah, we're going to be sending you a huge amount of money before the end of the year because they're making this film of your Constantine character with Keanu Reeves." I said, "Right, OK. (audience laughs) Well, take my name off of it and distribute my money amongst the other artists. I felt, well, that was difficult, but I did it and I feel pretty good about myself. Then I saw David Gibbons who I had done "Watchmen" with and he was saying, "Oh Alan, guess what, they're making the 'Watchmen' film." And I said, with tears streaming down my face, "Take my name off of it David. (sniffles)" (audience laughs) "You have all the money." Then I got a check for the "V for Vendetta" film. It was just, this was within three days!
SL: You must have believed there was some sort of God punishing you.
AM: Or at least he's got kind of a sense of humor. (audience laughs) I don't know what I was thinking, but I've said it now so I've got to kind of stick with it. But, on the other hand, just for the look on Hollywood producer's faces, "If he doesn't want the money, what does he want?" (audience laughs)
SL: You can't put a price on that.
AM: You can't, not that sort of entertainment. (audience laughs)