For every movie like “Dark Star” that produced people like
Dan O’Bannon & John Carpenter there’s a movie like “Clonus.” Released
around the same time as “Alien” this movie made for $257,000 of personal money by
director/writer/producer Robert Fiveson died on the vine. Check that, it didn’t
get any support, so…it got murdered in shitbox theaters.
There was no real distribution, since back in those days,
studios didn’t give a flying fuck if you made a movie on your own dime. They
were too busy trying to get their own movies made and shoved out there. Of course,
the story of “Clonus” would never be heard from had there not been a spicy
little controversy.
The plot of it is pretty interesting. In a hidden mysterious
industrial complex, a privileged society has clones being made. But one day a
clone, bred to be a dumb shell of a being, starts being aware of their purpose.
To support rich and powerful people. Sound familiar yet? Yep…it’s a movie that
Dreamworks made with director Michael Bay as “The Island.” Now if you watch the
movie, you can see practically shot for shot and beat for beat, the two movies
match up. You think movie people would be smart enough to…figure out a way
around it. But surprisingly, Spielberg’s company was involved. Fucking wild,
huh? To boot, they ended up suing these assholes and settled out of court. Now
I’m not sure the deal struck behind closed doors, but I can guarantee they paid
out of pocket. Now as far as Robert Fiveson was involved…who knows. According
to an interview he gave in 2004, the rights belong to a Sam Arkoff’s company. I
wonder…if he got screwed twice. Since…he technically doesn’t even have the
rights to his own movie…that he paid for. Lesson: Read the fine print when you
decide to sign away your intellectual property. I guess.
I learned something valuable hearing about this. Not that I
want to be any more paranoid. Just that there are unscrupulous people out
there. It seems hard to decipher who is trying to look out for your best
interest versus who’s just a smooth talker. This business can be rough
Speaking of which, Paulette Breen, the big jugged chick in this movie went to my alma mater Bowling Green State University and died alone and penniless in Van Nuys, CA. Most likely near where I live now. They don't tell stories like this in Entertainment Weekly:
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