Why do directors hide their names from the credits of films and who is Alan Smithy

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Many movie lovers know about the existence of a director like Alan Smithy. However, despite his huge filmography, you will not be able to find his interviews, photographs from film festivals or stories about future creative plans. So who is this mysterious person who avoids publicity? And to what extent is he related to the Soviet director Ivan Sidorov? It is these secrets behind the scenes of working on films that we will tell today.

Alan Smithy - birth story

For the first time, his name was mentioned in the credits to the film "Death of the Gunman" in 1969. The project was directed by Robert Totten. But almost two weeks before the end of filming, actor Richard Widmark, who played the main role, was seriously capricious. In his opinion, the master nagged at him, did his work incompetently, and in general it would be long ago to change the director. As an alternative candidate, Don Siegel was proposed, with whom the actor worked successfully. The studio had to make concessions to the hot-tempered star, and Siegel finished the film. However, he modestly refrained from indicating his surname. Yes, and Totten, concealing a grudge, also did not want to have anything to do with the picture. As a result, the "ownerless" film found a new "director" - according to the Guild of Actors, the filmmakers established a new reliable hero - Alan Smithy. It evolved from an anagram to the phrase "The Alias Men" - people under a pseudonym. So now under this name are regularly hiding those who annoy the film studios, combined several positions on the set, or simply cheated.

Ivan Sidorov as a Soviet relative

In the USSR, it was believed that hiding under a pseudonym was not communist. Therefore, any threat from the director to cut his name from the credits caused a storm of emotions. But nevertheless, sometimes the creators went for it, because the censorship could make a miserable semblance of a film out of a movie masterpiece. So it happened with the picture of Kira Muratova, whose work was shredded by officials of the State Committee of the Ukrainian SSR for cinematography beyond recognition. The director threatened to leave the film "Among the gray stones" without a "mother", to which she was answered: "Well, take it away." When asked what surname to put, the officials in their hearts advised: "Yes, even Ivanova, Petrov, Sidorova." So the Soviet pseudonym Ivan Petrov was born.

Witch-hunt

The whole history of cinematography is woven from a thousand little tricks. The producers are cunning, forcing the actors to portray non-existent feelings for the sake of marketing, the actors change their surnames to more euphonious pseudonyms, but the directors' desire to hide the name is dictated by sometimes difficult life circumstances.

So, for example, the actor Roscoe Arbuckle, known in the 1920s for his comic roles, unexpectedly fell into disgrace. The fact is that at one of the parties of his close friend Virginia Rapp became ill, and Rusco volunteered to see her off. She died a few days later. Most of those present at the celebration hinted that the actor showed concern for a reason, and the death of a young beauty is the result of perverse sexual violence. And although the trials had just begun, the press decided to make a sensation and trampled the career of a talented actor and director with its categorical statements. To survive, he was forced to take the pseudonym William Goodrich. After eleven long years, the court issued an acquittal, but Roscoe Arbuckle did not have time to enjoy himself - he soon died.

It turns out that "enemies of the people" were not only in Stalin's Russia. More than 150 filmmakers were included in their time in America in the list of communists who share the views. Many of them were forced to emigrate and even work in other countries under false names, so as not to compromise their colleagues in the filming. Perhaps the most remarkable story happened with the excellent screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. After almost a year in an American prison, he moved to Mexico, where he continued to work. His hard work paid off handsomely: in 1954, the picture "Roman Holiday" received an Oscar for Best Screenplay, but the award is presented to Ian McLallan Hunter. And two years later again "Oscar" - this time for the soulful script for the melodrama "The Brave". Needless to say, Robert Rich, listed as the author, was not present at the ceremony. Only in the 60s was the name of Dalton Trumbo rehabilitated.

Quickie "in Italian"

Let's omit the topic of real hack-work and remember that in order to please the foreign audience, the creators also go for tricks. Often this technique is used by Italians, because a rare American will go to the cinema for a film by some Sergio Leone. So, the great director in his western "For a Fistful of Dollars" introduced himself as Bob Robertson, and the main composer Ennio Morricone was replaced by Dana Savio. By the way, the musician used this name more than once in the future. Other directors also resorted to such a cunning technique, which was forced by the marketing of the box office: Mario Bava became John Old, his son - Old Jr., and Antonio Margheriti - Anthony Dawson.

Another naughty thing about the name change is also worth mentioning. For example, many directors starting out in the genre of “low social responsibility films” worked under pseudonyms. For example, the author of the creation and crime fighters "Bad Lieutenant", "Angel of Vengeance", and "9 Lives of a Wet Pussy" is Abel Ferrara. But he signed the last film on the list as Jimmy Boy Lee - after all, it is already clear what will be discussed in the naughty adult film. The record holder for the number of such pseudonyms is the Spaniard Jesús Franco. Over the course of his many years of career, he has signed more than 50 new names, most of which he borrowed from famous jazzmen - a Swiss, a reaper, and a dude.

If this is not a low-budget film, on which no one will place high stakes, then it is customary to sign your work in the cinematic environment by different names. However, where to get so many names if you were a director, cameraman, and editor? Stephen Soderbergh found a way out: he signs his cinematography as Peter Andrews (father's surname), and editing - as Mary Ann Bernard (mother's surname). The Coen brothers are also known, who do editing under the name of Roderick Janes. By the way, it was this fictional person who was twice nominated for the most prestigious award - for Fargo and No Country for Old Men.

Documentary film

Documentary films have their own laws. It happens that directors give the camera and the entire filming process at the complete disposal of the heroes of the picture, so that they themselves decide where, what and how to shoot - this is exactly what our documentary filmmakers Alexander Rastorguev and Pavel Kostomarov did. Their painting "I Love You" turned out to be alive and not at all tearful.

And it happens that the picture tells about real crimes. For example, the film "The Act of Murder" by Joshua Oppenheimer devoted to the history of the real "purges" in Indonesia. As a result of the military coup, the government created "death squads", which were literally allowed to destroy the unwanted. In front of the camera, assassins in government positions boasted of the massacres while savoring the details of the executions. The film turned out to be resonant. The director was protected by superpower immunity, but the cast members, who were mostly locals, were not. Therefore, hiding your name in this situation is a matter of life.