Captivity based on Paris?

Subject: Captivity based on Paris?

Original Poster: Django
Posted on 22-7-2007 at 07:58 PM

I can't remember where now (possibly just a comment on a forum), but I'm sure that I recently saw a mention that the writer or director of the new Elisha Cuthbert thriller "Captivity" supposedly based Elisha's character on Paris. Does anyone know if this is true or been officially mentioned?

I watched the movie tonight and noticed a couple of minor coincidences regarding Paris's unfortunate and unjust recent prison experience - Elisha's character mentions in interview footage that she's afraid to be alone for instance. Obviously the character is only loosely based, if at all, as there are obvious differences (Elisha's just a model, her father is dead and she ran away from home apparently at a young age).

Ultimately I'd only recommend the movie itself for Elisha Cuthbert fans (which is a good reason after all) or horror/thriller completists. It's okay but will be fairly familiar territory if you've already seen the recent Saw or earlier movies like Kiss The Girls and The Collector.

Reply: thewaymouth
Posted on 23-7-2007 at 03:21 AM

Yes, you're right, "Captivity" is based on Paris.

[BTW, I just posted my following comments @ Pajiba.]

I just watched an AMC Moviefest interview with the film's screenwriter, Larry Cohen. This is verbatim what he had to say when asked upon whom the main character is based.

"She's a character that was inspired by Paris Hilton. I'll come out and admit it. She's a spoiled brat, model, actress, who has really no talent, who's gotten by on publicity. She slapped a cop one time, and got herself on the front pages. She deserves what she's gonna get. This is like Paris Hilton's brief incarceration, exaggerated one thousand fold. This is the kind of prison that everybody wishes Paris Hilton had been sent to."

I have several issues here with this. I know there is this perception that Paris has "no talent, has gotten by on publicity." I totally disagree. I think she's a major talent. She is an artist, a smart business woman, has earned millions. She works hard & parties hard. Like millions of people. She has certainly entertained a hell of a lot of people over the years.

As far as this "slapped a cop" bit goes, Paris has done nothing remotely like that at all. No one can deny that she's always cooperative with the authorities. Even when they won't leave her alone, as they are constantly stopping her to hit on her. As she is wont to say, "We love the police."

As for this kind of small, narrow-minded, cruel thinking and mentality, I believe it but I don't understand it, refuse to accept it. This wanting to punish, to death-wish someone who has hurt no one. This kind of misogyny. All because you don't like her lifestyle, her freedom. Mind your own damn business then. Just because the media talks a lot about someone you don't appreciate, you are not forced to pay attention.

It is really just hate fronting for jealousy.

I could go on & on but Mr Rowles's scathingly brilliant review of the movie does justice just nicely. If I mean by nicely that he makes me feel his painful torture at seeing hers, of enduring this painfully tortured movie-going experience, then harrowing hell yes.

_______________________________________

I Am Pissed the F Off

"Captivity"
Review by Pajiba publisher, Dustin Rowles
July 13, 2007

I don’t know how else to put this. There’s not a tactful way of saying it — no fancy critic-speak or appropriate metaphors to use here. So, I’ll just put it in the bluntest way possible: I fucking hated Captivity. I loathed it. I want to collect every print in America and burn them all. And I want to throw the filmmakers into the bonfire. I want to emasculate the director, Roland Joffe, and the screenwriters, Larry Cohen and Joseph Tura, in the worst way imaginable. I want to remove their testicles and feed them to wild animals while they look on in horror. I want to remove the three of them from the human race, along with the 12 producers, and the marketing team behind Captivity — I want to inflict upon them all some misguided vigilante justice. Some fantastical, Tarantino brand of vengeance. And though I know by wishing it upon them, I’m stooping to their level, I still desperately want them all to feel the pain of centuries of misogyny and female degradation in one prolonged, indescribably agonizing form of torment.

But, more than anything, I don’t want anyone to see this film — I want it to fail spectacularly. I want the filmgoers of this nation to prove that we’re above this sort of contempt and hate of the female sex. That we’re not actually a nation of sick, twisted frat-boy fuckers who’d get off on this sort of deprivation. That there is a line, and that we, collectively, recognize that it’s been crossed, and we won’t subsidize it anymore. That we can reluctantly accept the insulting comedies, the drab thrillers, and the tiresome, lifeless romantic comedies, but that this sort of noxious cinematic poison is not only deplorable, but morally criminal.

Granted, there is an ad for this very movie on our site. One that I mistakenly accepted before seeing the film (and trust me, that odious version of the ad was not the version submitted to me), and one that I can do nothing to get rid of, short of removing the adstrip and pissing off the other advertisers (which I’ve considered) or shutting down the site all together. But then I couldn’t express my utter contempt for Captivity. I couldn’t encourage you all to refuse to give your business to it. To throw metaphorical rocks at its presence. To surreptitiously rip down its movie posters. And to offer the most effective means of protest: Your refusal to see it.

And yes, sure — we have expressed our distaste for torture pornography on several occasions on these pages. But Captivity is a new low for what’s already the lowest form of cinematic entertainment. It is the nadir of the subgenre’s short existence. It is everything (everything) that is despicable and vile and offensive about torture pornography distilled into 90 minutes of loathsome opprobrium. It’s repellent. Horrid. And thoroughly unpleasant. And I wouldn’t wish the experience of watching it upon anybody. Captivity is a cinematic cesspool where only sick fucking degenerates can get their rocks off, and it’s about as useful as second-hand toilet paper — only, it stinks a whole helluva lot more.

Joffe, who I hope to God doesn’t have a mother alive to see this, sets the mood immediately: Cold and dispassionate. Then he presents the captive, Jennifer (Elisha Cuthbert), a model with no trace of a back story. She’s just a girl. Blonde. Pretty. Has a toy poodle. Likes apple martinis. Has four limbs and a pair of breasts. Joffe doesn’t want to humanize her in any way — she’s just a piece of torture-pornography meat. An outlet — an empty receptacle — with which he can show off his depravity. And it’s unfuckingbelievable garbage.

At a bar, Jennifer’s drink is spiked. A few minutes later, she wakes up in the torturer’s dungeon, which the captor has decorated with things from her apartment. Immediately, the cruel fucking BS begins. Jennifer is given the Clockwork Orange treatment — she’s strapped into a chair and made to watch the torture of a previous victim, a woman showered with acid. Acid, people. Acid. Fucking sick deplorable s***. The whole movie makes Saw look like motherfucking My Fair Lady with an industrial metal soundtrack.

When Jennifer rebels — when she tries to escape — she’s put in her place by the “man,” like all women should be, I suppose. She’s drugged. Chased with a bone saw in a heating duct. Drugged again. Buried in sand. Drugged again. Made to choose between blowing a hole in her dog with a shotgun or getting shot in the face with it (she chooses the former, and the dog’s guts explode in her face). And, worst of all, she’s made to ingest a smoothie of blended human parts through a funnel. Just for kicks. Sick motherfucking kicks. And, of course, through it all, there are more damsel-in-despair cries than a goddamn Olive Oyl costume party.

In fact, Captivity is basically a 90-minute desensitizing seminar — there are so many torture scenes that, eventually, it becomes tedious, banal. The torture no longer registers as torture, just some sick F’s idea of recreation. I mean, after you watch a girl drink human organs, how much more shocking can it feel to watch a small boy stab his mother to death or witness the torturer pull a man’s teeth out with pliers?

*Spoilers here on out, for the douchebag degenerates that actually want to see this bullshit.*

As for the plot, there is none. And I don’t say that in a hyperbolic way, in a way meant to imply that the narrative is weak or there’s no logic in the way it unspools. I mean, literally, there is no plot: An unknown man kidnaps a girl. He tortures her. He tortures her dungeon-mate. He tortures her some more. Then the two captives, inexplicably, F each other.

But, of course, just because there’s no plot doesn’t mean that the ending can’t be not only unfathomably ridiculous, but excruciatingly offensive. Because, you see, worse than the torture — the interminable, never-ending, relentless torture — is the punch line to this terrible fucking joke. Jennifer’s male co-captive is actually the captor. The whole goddamn series of torturous events was staged — one sick, motherfucking nauseatingly twisted form of date rape. He killed her dog, he made her eat human organs, and he made her endure days of physical and psychological torture so that he could wear her down and have consensual sex with her while his brother and co-conspirator watched. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why would a guy who has no reservations about showering a woman with acid insist that the sex be consensual? What is the goddamn message here? That roofies just won’t cut it anymore?

Unfuckingbelievable.

And I’m sure the filmmakers will argue that Captivity has some sort of feminist empowerment message behind it because Jennifer, the captive, eventually figures it all out and kills her kidnapper, walking away “triumphantly” as the credits roll. But, that’s total fucking bullshit, because for 89 of the 90-minute run time, Joffe and his cinematic henchmen try to pass off torture and date rape as a form of entertainment — they somehow expect people will want to pay to see a woman suffer for 89 minutes and then hope the audience feels vindicated because she mercilessly puts two in her captor’s chest before the screen goes black. Well, F that. And F you, Joffe, et al. for thinking we’re that easily manipulated.

_______________________________

thewaymouth has attached this image:

Reply: Django
Posted on 23-7-2007 at 09:40 AM

I'm apalled! I can't understand the kind of hatred that Larry Cohen unleashed on Paris in that quote! I also hate when people like that think they're speaking for everyone. I didn't want Paris to go to any kind of prison and neither did the thousands of people who signed the petition. Personally I think the idea of anyone going to prison for a mere suspended licence charge is ridiculous, never mind Paris being treated worse than most people and people still hating on her for it.

I'm sorry I watched the movie now and glad I only watched it on an internet site where the makers will recieve no money for it. I'm disappointed that Elisha Cuthbert would indulge these people in their hate on Paris sick fantasies. I don't hate the movie as much as that reviewer (I don't think it's any worse than a lot of other movies and it's main crime was in being derivative and unoriginal). It's ironic of course that Paris is being called someone with no talent by someone who just hacks up the plot of other people's movies. What a despicable human being this man seems to be. Hmmm, maybe it's a good idea for Captivity 2 though - talentless despicable hack of a screenwriter gets tortured but he's so full of hate and lies about everyone else that noone cares.

I'm glad I asked about this, only because it reveals the depths and depravity that Paris's critics and haters will sink to in their deranged dislike of her. This is why I'm proud to be a Paris fan - most of the people who claim to hate her show themselves to be the type of people I want to be far away from.

Reply: Django
Posted on 23-7-2007 at 04:19 PM

I just saw that interview from Larry "hack" Cohen at:

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?ei=UTF-8&b=1&vid=780984&gid=1040176
He said the exact same words as the quote earlier in the thread. I posted a review to show what I think of his thoughtless and disgusting attack on someone who's never done him any harm (unfortunately you're not allowed to use profanity).

Reply: MyLastView
Posted on 23-7-2007 at 11:48 PM

The [Censored]! Stupid Larry Cohen.

Oh well, the movie will flop and no one will care for it.

Reply: thewaymouth
Posted on 24-7-2007 at 01:53 PM

America Slams the Door on Torture Pornography:

'Captivity' Opens In 12th Place

Posted Jul 15th 2007 2:02PM by Ryan Stewart
indie.cinematical.com
Filed under: Horror, Lionsgate Films, Critical Thought & Trends, Celebrities and Controversy

Wow. The film that was supposed to serve as the 'alternative programming' to the Harry Potter onslaught this weekend barely opened at all. All the free press and marketing in the world, a popular young starlet, an Oscar-nominated director, and all the rest of it barely lifted Captivity to an absurd 12th place finish for the weekend, topping out at an estimated $1.5 million. Assuming these estimates hold up on Monday morning, the film did less business than Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Ocean's Thirteen and several other films that have been around for weeks and weeks. It did just a tad more business than Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which has been kicking around for months. In fact, it did only marginally better than Evening, the small-budget weepie featuring Claire Danes and Meryl Streep that creeped into theaters two weeks ago on a very limited platform and had practically no marketing push whatsoever. How is that even possible?

Anyway you slice it, this disasterous showing will have huge consequences for the horror genre going forward. Horror films of the 'torture pornography' variety will probably not disappear from theatrical release all-together, but I bet that, going forward, the more gruesome elements of these films will be completely hidden by the marketing gurus rather than promoted. Also, films currently in production that could fall into the torture pornography category, like the remake of the Wes Craven film The Last House on the Left will become a seriously tough sell. As for R-rated horror in general, the next test will be Rob Zombie's Halloween in late August. If that does well, expect the heat to cool off a bit, but in all seriousness, what is wrong with the American movie-going public? Aren't there any horror fans still out there? Am I the only one left?

=========================

7/24/07 Follow-up:

Week #2
Rank 21
Wknd Gross $318,545

Cumulative $2,423,760

Reply: thewaymouth
Posted on 24-7-2007 at 02:00 PM

What I think bothers people like Cohen is that Paris was born into money, & they don't think she's done anything to deserve her inheritance. It then really bugs them that some other people actually dare to think differently, that they appreciate what Paris brings to the table & they actually like her. How dare we? Paris must pay for this, as well as all the attention she gets.

They act like Paris was born not only into great wealth but nobility, that she is a true Queen, and we live in a monarchy. She is the new Marie Antoinette & spending the country's resources frivolously, while the people are starving.

People are judge & jury of everyone else. The gangsta mentality permeates the culture. If you are not liked & deemed unworthy of attention, instead of ignoring you they want you to be punished & suffer & die. Because the people who are looking down on you are actually looking up -- they are comparatively poor & unknown & in dead end jobs/lives. And that is so wrong & so someone must pay.

Meanwhile of course if they hit the lottery tomorrow, they would feel they should be able to do whatever they damn please.

Finally, what really bugs me is they spend all their time slagging her, death-wishing her, instead of paying attention to politics. President Bush is practically a part of a monarchy - his father was president, he was not elected president but selected by the courts, and because of 9/11 he has given the presidency outrageous power, has gotten us into a war based on lies. And so on.

The president & the congress & the courts are holding power over our lives. They are the ones who should be held up to the highest scrutiny. But instead let's send Paris to the gallows. I tell you it's The Salem Beeatch Trials!

The more they irrationally hate-on Paris, the more I love her.

My tribute to my Number one hun

thewaymouth has attached this image:

Reply: Django
Posted on 24-7-2007 at 05:45 PM

Great "One Of A Kind" image, thewaymouth

I agree with your thoughts on the way people think of Paris and it's a general hypocrisy I've noticed in people for years I guess but Paris does seem to get far more than the usual hate that any rich or famous person can expect. I agree that there's far more deserving people out there, like Bush, terrorists, right wing religious fanatics etc (and the kind of people that stone girls to death in the Middle East and call it an "honour" killing). And yet many of supposedly civilised people will foam at the mouth and practically cry for Paris's blood on the flimsiest of excuses.

As to answering that article: I would class myself as a horror fan (in the sense that it is one of the movie genres that I enjoy regularly) but I'm not so keen on the more nasty films that want to just focus on people being tortured. Before I knew of Cohen's intentions I could watch Captivity as a derivative but watchable movie about a girl being put in a scary situation and seeing how she copes with and survives the experience. But people like Cohen using movies to portray their own sick fantasies against a real person whom I happen to like and who hasn't actually harmed anyone (or just taking their frustrations out on beautiful priviliged young women in general)? That's the kind of movie I can do without and for that reason I'll be glad if these kinds of movies fail and we get back to movies that at least have a sense of storytelling, atmosphere or escapist fun. I just hope people like Cohen learn the lesson for the movie's failing at the box office and I hope the culture of nastiness to others is on the wane.

Reply: kevinareblind
Posted on 24-7-2007 at 10:37 PM

Wtf I thought that bitch liked Paris, wasn't she in the Nothing In This World music video?

Reply: Django
Posted on 25-7-2007 at 09:49 AM

She was in the Nothing In This World music video and has been seen out with Paris at clubs etc on a few occasions. They also used to live close together too, according to the extras on the House Of Wax DVD. I haven't heard anything of them falling out, but maybe Elisha didn't know of the connection. Maybe the hack scriptwriter is just drumming up the Paris angle because he thinks that it will help the movie somehow (in the belief that enough other people are as vile in their hatred as him) - I'm pleased to say that the movie seems to be bombing big time though.

Reply: hiram_hilton
Posted on 25-7-2007 at 10:40 PM

yep actually I thought they were friend since House of wax but didn´t knew she was in the nothing in this world video

anyway I wouldn´t see her movie, looks way too scary LOL I get scared so easily

Reply: cosmogirl
Posted on 25-7-2007 at 10:50 PM

I believe the Paris comment was made to drum up publicity for a movie that is going to fail regardless of who's name is attached to it.

There has NOT been a genuinely scary flik since.....UHM.....UH....

Can someone please fill in the blank for me?

It HAS been THAT long since a movie scared the shit out of me.

Reply: Django
Posted on 26-7-2007 at 09:43 AM

hiram_hilton: Elisha appears at the beginning of the Nothing In This World video, clapping and laughing while the boy from the video is getting his head stuck down the toilet.

cosmogirl: I very rarely get genuinely scared by horror movies in that way (and most of them would be older movies like the originals of The Haunting, Black Christmas and The Fog or the original Japanese version of Ring). Of course an effectively well made slasher movie or whatever can make me scared for the characters and get caught up in the tension of the situation.

I agree that the comment sounds like a publicity stunt and perhaps an opportunistic cash in of Paris's jail sentence, but I'm glad to see that it hasn't helped the movie so far and all the Paris haters haven't been out in force to see it (either that or there's not many of them and they just like to make a big noise).