Darwinist threat to sue pro-ID filmmakers? Friend of the studio thinks they have no case

I just heard from a friend of the studio who saw my recent post about the anonymous warning that Darwinists might sue the makers of the Ben Stein Expelled film. The film does not flatter them, and perhaps they'd want to at least stop it from opening on Darwin's birthday next February.

Said studio rat writes,

Not only would any lawsuit be a waste of time, but there was nothing unethical about how they obtained interviews from what I've heard. In some cases, namely Richard Dawkins but a number of others as well, the interviewee saw the questions prior to the interview and it was very clear what the subject matter was about. Interviewees were told that the working title was Crossroads, which it was for a while (remember some interviews happened more than a year ago). It's not uncommon for a movie to have one or even a few working titles while it is being produced.

At the end of each interview the interviewees were asked to sign a release form. If they didn't like how the interview had gone it seems that would have been the time to say 'no, I won't sign that' which would have protected them from being included in the film.

Ratsy wonders how likely it is that Richard Dawkins or PZ Myers said anything that they haven't said or written publicly before.

Not likely.

Who besides the Prophet of the Pharyngula is complaining? Funny, I would have thought that the Pharyngulite would be too busy with other legal matters to worry much about this.

Anyway, Ratsy says he was kind of expecting the Darwoids to make these noises because they don't have many other options. The picture ain't pretty, apparently, but it isn't illegal either.

I'm waiting to see if Premise Media wants to issue a "So sue us!" statement. Might clear the air a bit.

Update: Here's a podcast with the executive producer of Expelled, Walt Ruloff.

Ruloff gives a brief overview of Expelled, explains how he came to spend over two years making the film, talks about intelligent design as a disruptive technology compared to dogmatic Darwinian evolution, and tells how the film will show that Darwinian evolution is a science stopper. Rather than get mired in the politics of the debate, Ruloff explains that Expelled gets to "where the rubber meets the road, where the science is being done."

Further update: Here Walt Ruloff denies that trickery or deception were used.

Major feature film defends intelligent design - to be released on Darwin's birthday, 2008

A film to be premiered February 12, 2008, on 1000 screens across the United States, stars the widely recognized Ben Stein , at home in both Hollywood and the Beltway, defending the intelligent design theorists.

I just watched a trailer and some excerpts from EXPELLED, brainchild of Premise Media , which promises that "It will be the single most controversial film of the year."

That may prove true.

Expelled takes dead aim at the American elections in 2008 (in which intelligent design vs. evolution has already become an issue.)

Here’s some other information that I learned at a briefing this evening, hosted by Discovery Institute and attended by Premise principals:

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed stars Ben Stein in old-fashioned student dress, getting himself kicked out of school, and taking dead aim at the American elections in 2008 (intelligent design vs. random evolution has already become an issue.)

Here's the stub site, which will go live with more info shortly.

The film, directed by Nathan Frankowski, features scientists like Rick Sternberg , Guillermo Gonzalez , and Caroline Crocker , who have been victimized by the Darwin cult. Stein also confronts a number of the cultists, including the Smithsonian congregation that drove out Rick Sternberg (and called security on the film crew!), as well as Richard Dawkins.

It is first and foremost the brainchild of software developer Walt Ruloff who found himself rich and idle in the early 1990s at the age of 32 - after he sold his software to Microsoft. Then he discovered the intelligent design controversy.

Like so many people who are new to it, he was stunned both by the arrogance and brutality of the Darwinists and the lack of actual support for their views about life, love, and all that.* They appear as their usual selves, and, from what I gather (and saw in the supertrailer), the picture isn't pretty on film either.


The film has already received endorsements from Michael Medved, Peter Furler (of Newsboys)and J.I. Packer. It is not funded by Discovery Institute but by software entrepreneur Ruloff who lives on Bowen Island in British Columbia, Canada, and a team of supporters.

The filmmakers plan to use viral marketing, as well as other strategies, to ensure that EXPELLED reaches students. The campaign is directed by Motive Entertainment , "the company behind the grass roots campaign for Hollywood blockbusters such as The Passion of the Christ & The Chronicles of Narnia."

Here is some copy from the handout I received:

The Dark Soul of the Machine Many now say that there is no stopping the spread of Darwinian materialism. In February 2008 Premise Media will release the film that says "Enough!"

also

Scores of scientists, government officials, philosophers, theologians and students are refusing to "Shut Up!" Join them.

More soon.

I see where former news reporter and anchor Mark Mathis, now with his own (?) Sherman Oaks-based company Rampant Films, is the associate producer.

Some thoughts:

1. I had been wondering why no one had so far made a film out of the attempt to ruin Rick Sternberg's career, and others.

2. Viral marketing should work well for a project like this.

3. Their strategy, as describef to me, sounds pretty good. But that's no surprise; this seems to be the element in Hollywood that prefers to expose its brains instead of its ... . A nice change. I must get one of the tee shirts, mugs, et cetera, that they are planning to sell.

4. Stein is hilarious in blazer, short pants, and runningshoes.

5. Lastly, should I have waited till I left Seattle before saying that I vastly prefer WordPerfect to Word, especially for blogging?

Service note: If your comment was posed directly to the dashboard, I am back but not back there yet.
* For example, recently, I listened to a very careful (and private) presentation by a scientist on Darwinist claims about whale evolution. You will often hear in popular media about how a cow or a hippo became a whale in just a few easy steps. The scientist - whose specialty is precisely this sort of thing - decided to study the actual body changes required. And guess what? However it happened, it simply cannot have been by Darwinism (natural selection acting on random mutation). But careers could be ruined for saying that.