Wow, learning something new (and troubling) about Snowball (or rather, one portrayal of Snowball) in that article:
> When the novel Animal Farm was adapted for the screen in the 1950s, the CIA investors were initially greatly concerned that Snowball was presented too sympathetically in early script treatments and that Batchelor's script implied Snowball was "intelligent, dynamic, courageous". A memo declared that Snowball must be presented as a "fanatic intellectual whose plans if carried through would have led to disaster no less complete than under Napoleon." De Rochemont subsequently implemented these changes.
> .Orwell Subverted: The CIA and the Filming of animal Farm, pp. 75–79
Scary. I had no idea CIA had anything to do with movie production in the US. Wonder if that's still the case.
It probably is; if a film wants to use any military hardware, the Pentagon gets the final say about the contents.
And if they want to earn big in China and get subsidies from their film funds, it cannot be critical of China / Chinese people, they can't be the bad guys, it has to have at least a secondary Chinese actor, and it needs a scene in a Chinese city. That's what I've observed with some of these films anyway, e.g. the Transformer films.
Yeah, that's been my observation too. If I watch a movie and they end up in a Chinese city (HK, Shanghai etc), it's often a strong indicator of Chinese investors. At least when it comes to blockbuster movies.
When it comes to the US military lending support, I've read that the movie cannot be critical or portray us military in a negative manner.
> When the novel Animal Farm was adapted for the screen in the 1950s, the CIA investors were initially greatly concerned that Snowball was presented too sympathetically in early script treatments and that Batchelor's script implied Snowball was "intelligent, dynamic, courageous". A memo declared that Snowball must be presented as a "fanatic intellectual whose plans if carried through would have led to disaster no less complete than under Napoleon." De Rochemont subsequently implemented these changes.
> .Orwell Subverted: The CIA and the Filming of animal Farm, pp. 75–79
Scary. I had no idea CIA had anything to do with movie production in the US. Wonder if that's still the case.