Wolverine Speaks out Against Leaked Film
April 8, 2009 – Toronto, Canada
Wolverine, errr…Hugh Jackman speaks out regarding the post-production leak of this summer’s most anticipated movie.
Hugh Jackman who plays X-Man Wolverine in the newest installment of the X-Men movie’s, said yesterday that he was “heartbroken” that the film was leaked on the Internet a month before its official release.
The Australian star of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” said the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was on the case and he believed the guilty party would be found.
“It’s a serious crime and there’s no doubt it’s very disappointing — I was heartbroken by it,” Jackman told reporters at a promotion for the movie in Sydney. It seems this sort of thing spreads faster than celebrity gossip.
The leaked version of the 20th Century Fox action movie was reportedly downloaded tens of thousands of times within a day of being posted on file-sharing websites at the end of March.
“Obviously, people are seeing an unfinished film,” Jackman said. “It’s like a Ferrari without a paint job.” I really like this famous quote and take it from someone who saw this movie, his analogy is pretty much “bang-on”, the move is amazing and the unfinished parts do detract slightly from the overall enjoyment of the film.
The forty-year-old Hollywood heartthrob, named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine last year, said he was convinced that whoever had posted the copy would be tracked down.
Jackman arrived by helicopter on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour, where some of the movie was filmed, for the first stop of a world promotion tour ahead of its official release at the end of the month.
He then delighted hundreds of invited guests and media by swooping down from a clifftop on a cable before unveiling 20 minutes of completed footage.
Jackman said he was proud of the fact that most people he has spoken to had condemned the leak and thought fans would still go to see it at the cinema.
The leak has already claimed at least one casualty — a US entertainment columnist who was fired for reviewing a stolen copy downloaded from the Internet.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns both 20th Century Fox Films and Fox News, said writer Roger Friedman had been “promptly terminated” after posting his column on the Fox News website last week.
“We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy,” News Corporation said in an emailed statement.
“When we advised Fox News of the facts they took immediate action, removed the post, and promptly terminated Mr Friedman.”
Although I must admit I did see the pirated film at my weekly poker game (after all it was on the tv in the background I and I couldn’t just get up and leave). I will probably see it in the theaters and/or will buy the dvd.