Latest news with #Smithee
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Hollywood's worst-kept secret?
– the most prolific Hollywood director with over 150 movies listed on IMDB – has been trending on X and online forums such as Reddit in recent weeks. But what's so special about him? Who is Alan Smithee? No one. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now You read that right. Alan Smithee doesn't exist, never did. It's just a pseudonym Hollywood uses when someone isn't happy with how a project turns out and doesn't want a credit. The pseudonym was born in 1968 as a direct result of a Directors Guild of America (DGA) rule: No film can be released without a director credit. And the western, Death of a Gunfighter , posed just that problem. The original director, Robert Totten, had a fall out with lead actor Richard Widmark during the shoot, and was replaced by Don Siegel. But though Siegel finished the film, he refused to take credit as the director, as the film clearly bore Totten's signature. The DGCA recommended a solution – the use of a pseudonym. And the rest is history. Why is Smithee trending? In the age of internet detectives, pseudonyms in Hollywood have turned into Easter eggs. Communities on Reddit analyse end credits and copyright filings to reveal which top directors might be hiding behind unusual names. Current recommendations for such disputed projects include 'Thomas Lee', which was first used for Supernova . A recent article highlighted the extensive use of 'Alan Smithee' credit in various films, including alternate versions of Scent of a Woman and Heat . This has sparked discussions among film enthusiasts and social media users about the pseudonym's legacy and the circumstances under which it was employed. Handles like @AlanSmithee1987 and @Smithee_directs has contributed to the trend, often sharing content related to film culture, satire, and commentary, keeping the conversation about 'Alan Smithee' alive. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now What this means in the streaming era In today's content-saturated market, with the changing definitions of a 'big-budget studio', directors are frequently hired, and replaced, as 'service providers' rather than as auteurs. Studios and platforms often exert more editorial control, sidelining directors during post-production. This creates a possibility of directors wanting to distance themselves, especially if a show is recut or reshot by the platform. For fans, it is all about finding that Easter egg of pseudonyms through the deepest online dive possible. The end? The pseudonym was over-publicised, ruining its reputation. Films credited with it were automatically considered bad and that made it difficult for studio bosses to find successful distribution. The DGA drew the line. The union 'retired' its official pseudonym recommendation in 2000. But it seems like Hollywood isn't ready to retire it even now, with Alan getting umpteen credits in between, and has more in the offing. Fun fact: Alan Smithee has 415 credits listed on IMDB, including 149 director credits for past productions and four for upcoming ones, 61 credits as actors, 42 as writer, 36 as producer and 13 as composer. It's all over the place, spread across 24 categories Fun fact: Smithee even fooled well-known film critic Roger Ebert, who wrote a positive review of Death of a Gunfighter , saying, 'Director Allen Smithee, a name I'm not familiar with, allows his story to unfold naturally.' Fun fact: In the 1997 mockumentary An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn , a filmmaker, Alan Smithee (Eric Idle) wants to have his name removed from the credits of the final product. This isn't easy, because his real name is the official pseudonym for such cases. That's the storyline, but then there's the twist. The film's actual director, Arthur Hiller, wasn't satisfied with its final cut, and so…. Fun fact: Among Hollywood A-listers, Steven Soderbergh has used pseudonyms most prolifically, maintaining distinct creative personas for different roles, especially within the same project. He's known to have used 'Peter Andrews' as a pseudonym for his role as a cinematographer and 'Mary Ann Bernard' for his work as an editor. The Coen Brothers have occasionally credited themselves under aliases like 'Roderick Jaynes' for editing work. The G.O.A.T Smithee: The pseudonym has been used since 1968 by several directors, including David Lynch, and has come to signify a bad film. In more recent years, Evil Dead and Spider-Man creator Sam Raimi and his elder brother wrote the screenplay for 1992 film The Nutt House as Alan Smithee Junior and Alan Smithee Senior. For the TV cut of Dune (1984), David Lynch disowned the extended television cut of his sci-fi epic, not the theatrical version. He used the credits 'Directed by Alan Smithee'/ Written by 'Judas Booth' (a jab at betrayal, like Judas and John Wilkes Booth). Famous Hollywood Pseudonyms Stephen Greene – Accidental Love (2015); disowned by David O. Russell Thomas Lee – Supernova (2000); disowned by Walter Hill and completed by other directors, including Francis Ford Coppola Ernie Fusco – Highball (1997); disowned by Noah Baumbach Jan Jensen – Showgirls (1995, TV Edit); disowned by Paul Verhoeven
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Hollywood's most prolific director, with 50 films, doesn't even exist; yet directed Brad Pitt, got Al Pacino an Oscar
'Who is Alan Smithee' can be an interesting trivia question for film buffs. The name has been used in the credits of Hollywood films as a director more time than any other. Even prolific filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg do not have as many credits as a director as dear old Alan. However, what complicates matters for Alan's legacy is the small matter that he does not exist. Alan Smithee, also spelt Allen Smithee, is the official pseudonym used by film directors, largely in America, when they want to disown their projects. The name was coined by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) in 1968. Since then, it has been used by several directors in 50 films. Whenever a director feels they haven't had the desired creative control over the film and they would not want their name associated with the final product, they can request DGA to allow the use of Alan Smithee. The DGA reserves the final decision once the filmmaker can prove to the satisfaction of a guild panel that they had not been able to exercise creative control over a film. The director is not allowed to discuss in public why they disowned their film. The pseudonym was originally created for a Western titled Death of a Gunfighter. The lead actor replaced director Robert Totten with Don Siegel mid-shoot. Siegel argued that he had only shot one-fourth of the film and that the star had had creative control. Since he did not want the credit, DGA invented Alan Smithee. Surprisingly, the film received rave reviews with Roger Ebert writing, "Director Allen Smithee, a name I'm not familiar with, allows his story to unfold naturally." The name was then retroactively added to Burt Reynolds' 1968 hit Fade In. The DGA then decided to use the name in similar situations thereafter. In the 70s and 80s, Alan Smithee stepped in for disgruntled directors several times. In 1984, David Lynch disowned the extended TV version of his classic, Dune, and Alan Smithee's name was featured as the director. In 1992, Martin Brest disowned a cut in-flight version of his acclaimed film, Scent of a Woman, and again, Smithee stepped up. Al Pacino won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in the film. Three years later, Michael Mann disowned the TV cut of his Pacino and Robert de Niro-starrer Heat, and Alan Smithee took over. Over the years, Smithee 'directed' several other big stars like Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black, Russell Crowe in The Insider, and Jeremy Renner in National Lampoon's Senior Trip. Smithee also filled in for dissatisfied directors in episodes of many TV shows and music videos. After the turn of the century, as internet proliferation made it impossible to keep a director's involvement secret, Alan Smithee's 'career' slowed down and then halted. The last film that made use of the pseudonym was the 2015 horror film Old 37.
