Alan Smithee, the mysterious but prolific director whose 30-year career has been marked by controversy, is failing and may never work again. His problem isn't illness or old age, some say, but screenwriter Joe Eszterhas.
Smithee is the pseudonym slapped on a film when a director demands that his own name be removed from the credits. Since his invention by the Directors Guild in 1968, Smithee has showed up on dozens of films and TV shows, from an episode of "Twilight Zone" to the airline version of Martin Brest's "Scent of a Woman." Within the industry, Smithee's name has been a signal that something went awry. But to most Americans, for years, Smithee was just another show-biz auteur.
Then, Eszterhas made "An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn," a documentary-style satire of the movie biz that--while it was a box-office dud--got lots of buzz on the Internet, prompted national press accounts and introduced the masses to Smithee. (The movie's conceit, as one amateur reviewer explained on the Ain't It Cool News movie Web site, is that a director named Alan Smithee wants his name off a picture "but the catch is, the name the DGA puts on in place of disgruntled directors' names is Alan Smithee.")
Ever since Disney released the film, in 1998, Smithee's reputation has suffered, with movie studios worrying that crediting him is tantamount to labeling a movie damaged goods. But this week came the first hard evidence that Smithee's days are numbered.
MGM's "Supernova," which opened Friday, was directed by Walter Hill, who subsequently petitioned the DGA to have his name removed. Normally, this would be Smithee's moment to shine. Instead, Hill, the production company and the DGA agreed to a different pseudonym: Thomas Lee. And that raised the question: Where was Smithee?
The answer, according to one DGA board member: Smithee has taken sick and is unlikely to recover.
"I have a fondness for the fellow. I gave birth to him. But Eszterhas ruined it," said veteran director John Rich, a member of the DGA board of directors since 1953 who helped coin the Smithee name. "Several on the board feel we should maintain Smithee. But I understand the view of the majority that he's been damaged to the point that it's unworkable. This is an ideal time for his obituary."
Writer-director Gary Ross ("Pleasantville") said Smithee should die happy because "considering he has such a body of undistinguished work, it's amazing he has had such a long career."
