12
votes
Alan Smithee - the director who doesn't exist
I just found out about this and it's something I guess I should have known about before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Smithee
Alan Smithee (also Allen Smithee) is an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project. Coined in 1968 and used until it was formally discontinued in 2000,[1] it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) when a director, dissatisfied with the final product, proved to the satisfaction of a guild panel that he or she had not been able to exercise creative control over a film. The director was also required by guild rules not to discuss the circumstances leading to the movie or even to acknowledge being the project's director.
The most interesting part is that this is what caused it to get discontinued.
I forgot that one of the best thing about Roger Ebert was the way he ridiculed bad movies.
My favorite Alan Smithee film is the extended version of Dune. Mostly because I love the theatrical cut of that film, it was jaw dropping how bad it was. Directorial disablement well deserved.
The most fascinating ones to me are the films where directors tried to have their names switched out but were unable to.