Relativity Responds To Critics Of Filming In China: ‘We Would Never Knowingly Do Anything To Undermine’ Human Rights

COMMENTS (19)

• I recently came across the set of “21 and Over” in Seattle near the University of Washington, and spoke to several members of the cast and crew. The movie’s story sounds a bit underwhelming and uninspired.

  However, I am not sure what’s worse – that activists are pouncing on a likely lame movie to drum up media attention for their cause OR that Relativity thinks this plot/movie idea is sustainable for a comedy that can succeed at either the belly laughter test or the Box Office one.

  Enough with the aspiring “Hangover” re-threads please….. Aim high(er) !!!

  Comment by bobby the saint — Sunday October 30, 2011 @ 9:57pm PDT  Reply to this post

• …unless it makes our bottom line go BUMP.”

  Who do they think they’re kidding?! Money will always trump human rights with these guys. That’s what business schools have been preaching for a long time now: there’s no shame in greed.

  Comment by No Fool — Sunday October 30, 2011 @ 10:09pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Think making a movie in China is immoral?
  How about making your iPhones in China?
  Or *buying* the iPhones that were made in China?
  What about selling your movies / dvds in China?
  What about all the cheap crap on the shelves at Walmart and Target 90% of which were made in China?

  Comment by TJ — Sunday October 30, 2011 @ 10:54pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I’ll bet the computer, tablet device, or smart phone you posted your comment with is made in China or the TV you watched the other day was made in China. People love to talk about things made in China, but realistically who is going to pay a huge premium for a smart phone, TV, computer, tablet just to buy one made in USA. Answer…. No one.

    Comment by lsb — Sunday October 30, 2011 @ 11:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • “Made in China” will eventually be costly enough that it makes sense to gradually move production back to the U.S. over time.

      Comment by Cinesnatch — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 8:10am PDT  Reply to this post

  • Exactly — What don’t we get from China these days? We’re all complicit if we’re going to talk about those issues with with China.

    Comment by Max Renn — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 12:49am PDT  Reply to this post

    • Ditto! And let’s not forget how complacent we all are every time we go to the grocery store and buy produce grown right here in the U.S. that migrant farm workers harvest for us under conditions that none of us would subject ourselves to by choice. Before we point the finger at others we need to take care of our own house first.

      Comment by Scott — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 11:27am PDT  Reply to this post

• I’m not highly familiar with the activist and the allegations here, but I would like to say I support these and similar concerns over Hollwood studios’ broadening business relations with China. As an apolitical American moviegoer, it rings with hypocrisy for Hollywood, which makes so many films about the human spirit and independence, to bypass human rights concerns for a buck. Sure, it might be expected by some cynics, but with the U.S. struggling to maintain its civility and prosperity, I foresee many boycotts and outcries of films made in China. Relativity’s apology, to me, reads more like a reassurance to Chinese partners than an admission of any wrong doing or moral dissonance. Please speak out via social media and ticket dollars so our patriotic alarm bells are heard if you feel the same.

  Comment by sandra — Sunday October 30, 2011 @ 11:13pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Is seems Relativity is relativistic. I’m going to illegally download their movies (when they actually figure out how to make an original, good one) laughing, or just with righteousness.
    Go to hell, lizards, I ain’t paying.

    Comment by flik — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 7:50am PDT  Reply to this post

  • Our ENTIRE country is in bed with China. Sorry, but it’s very hard for any citizen to take the moral high ground when as already was stated, something like 90% of the crap we buy is made there, not to mention the fact that our government borrowed money from them so everyone could get their precious tax cuts. If you are going to boycott hollywood over this, you better start making all of the products you consume, especially that computer you’re using.

    Comment by cookmeyer1970 — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 9:01am PDT  Reply to this post

• “We believe deeply that expanding trade and business ties with our counterparts in China and elsewhere can result in positive outcomes”

  Translation: f*ck all of you, we’d do business with Goebbels if there were enough dollars to be made, because by us doing business with him and not saying one word about the murder, torture, etc, there might just maybe be a positive outcome.

  Comment by David — Sunday October 30, 2011 @ 11:36pm PDT  Reply to this post

• The Immorals…

  Comment by DimSumRyan — Sunday October 30, 2011 @ 11:50pm PDT  Reply to this post

• If disdain over human atrocity should dictate location shooting, then all future movies would need to be filmed on the moon. I’m sorry that this activist has found himself in a hole, but there are people on earth suffering much, much more than that. Human trafficking is the first horror to come to mind, and that trade occurs even in LA. Should we stop filming in LA until it gets cleaned up? Or does that atrocity not matter because we can’t put a blind man’s face on it?

  Comment by DBHughes — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 1:42am PDT  Reply to this post

  • I think the distinction lies in human rights abuses at the hands of the State, as opposed to general human suffering as the result of illegal acts committed by whoever.

    As for Chen Guangcheng, he was born November 12, 1971 and is a blind civil rights activist in the People’s Republic of China who drew international attention to human rights issues in rural areas. He was placed under house arrest from September 2005 to March 2006 after talking to Time magazine about the forced abortion cases he investigated in Linyi Prefecture, Shandong Province. Authorities formally arrested him in June 2006 for destruction of property and assembling a crowd to disrupt traffic. During his trial, Chen’s lawyers were forbidden access to the court, leaving him without a proper defender. On August 24, 2006, Chen was sentenced to four years and three months for “damaging property and organising a mob to disturb traffic.”

    Chen was released from prison on September 8, 2010 after serving his full sentence, but remains under “ruanjin” or soft detention at his home in Dongshigu. Chen and his wife were reportedly beaten shortly after a human rights group released a video of their home under intense police surveillance on February 9, 2011.

    So, to wrap up, too bad, according to you, that he found himself in a hole. Relativity isn’t to blame for his detention, but the next project they do in China will likely be undertaken after doing a bit more do diligence.

    Comment by A lib lawyer — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 9:45am PDT  Reply to this post

• Why do you have to make “21 and Over” in China anyway? It sounds to me like this should have a low production budget. It isn’t a Batman movie or Avatar 2. Why is it so expensive you need to go overseas to make it? And yes, this is hypocrisy and we shouldn’t be subsidizing human rights abuses.

  Comment by Ben — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 1:58am PDT  Reply to this post

• Yes……obviously Montreal or Toronto would be much better.

  Comment by t — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 6:01am PDT  Reply to this post

• In a related release, Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity announce they have started production on a sequel to Take Me Home Tonight to shoot in North Korea. Kim Jong Il describes Ryan as “a brother from another mother’.

  Comment by Kim — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 6:34am PDT  Reply to this post

• Clearly, shooting in China and partnering with a Chinese company increases the chances of 21 and Over of being picked as the 20 foreign import quota. Not only Hollywood will have to shoot in China, use Chinese cast, finance etc., which is fair enough, it will also have to glorify and whitewash China. A single unflattering frame of China, you are out. So, overall, yes, it is immoral to do business there if you censor yourself and kiss the dictator’s ass.

  Comment by China Film Watcher — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 10:25am PDT  Reply to this post

• This is not Relativity’s fault, but it’s more ” inexperienced ” with a new country…..this is for EVERYONE reading this….keep in mind that any time you travel for business or pleasure out side of the US and into foreign lands….you must do your homework, to understand ahead of time so you can better protect yourself….examples : if you travel to Africa, Asian South America etc, you always gets shots / medicine to bring with you because of ” rare diseases ” in these countries that can be deadly, and their medical care is not great…..so you must be prepared….
  If you travel to any where in the middle east, you must research ahead of time to know how ” dangerous ” the situation really is for every country there at any point, so you can prepare for safety measures of not being blown up by suicide bombers running into places…..
  If you work in China or travel for pleasure, you should research ahead of time and be on guard for different mentality and different cultural beliefs so you don’t step on their toes, and create conflicts for yourself…if it’s sensitive issue such as human rights…..they can come after you too….be careful….
  Whenever traveling far away from home ( US )…..every US citizen is a foreigner in someone else’s land….for things to go smoothly, you all should research where ever the continent / country is , learn, understand, be totally prepared for everything, the more you know, the less likely that trouble will find you……make your money, but research to understand who you’re doing business with and where to make better decisions for yourself and avoid unwanted problems….

  Comment by 777 — Monday October 31, 2011 @ 11:18am PDT  Reply to this post