By Erin Free
Though it’s hardly in the same league as fire-starters like Salo, A Clockwork Orange, or The Last Temptation Of Christ, the sci-fi drama, Contact, certainly got more than a few people hot under the collar when it was released in 1997. Adapted from Carl Sagan’s novel of the same name by Robert Zemeckis, the film tells of scientist, Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), who finds strong evidence of extra-terrestrial life, and is then chosen to turn astronaut and make first contact. Her journey is complicated by the involvement of high profile Christian philosopher, Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), with whom she previously had a brief romantic encounter.
Where to begin? First up, Australian-born director, George Miller – who had developed Contact with backing studio, Warner Bros., before Zemeckis’ hiring – unsuccessfully sued the studio for breach of contract. Also litigating against Warner was producer/director, Francis Ford Coppola, on the basis that Carl Sagan’s novel was based on a story that the pair had developed for a television special back in 1975 titled First Contact. Coppola’s case was dismissed on the grounds that he’d waited too long to lodge it.
Upon its release, the film then raised the ire of NASA, who decried a scene in the film where Jodie Foster’s character is given a cyanide pill by NASA scientists in the event that she may need to take her own life. Gerald D. Griffin, the film’s NASA advisor, insisted that the organisation would never do this. Cable news network, CNN, also publicly regretted allowing several of its on-air personalities to appear in the film, claiming that it looked like they were beholden to Time Warner, the parent company of both CNN and Warner Bros.
The biggest noise, however, came from The White House, when complaints were made about the unauthorised use – and digital manipulation – of news footage of US President Bill Clinton, whose image and words were taken out of context, and featured in a number of scenes. While The White House commented that parody and satire are protected under the First Amendment, press secretary, Mike McCurry, believed that “there is a difference when The President’s image, which is his alone to control, is used in a way that would lead the viewer to believe that he has said something that he really didn’t say.”
