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Not really a spoiler for movies, as a villain in a movie could use an iPhone. Apple just wouldn’t pay the producers for placement fees.
 



In an interview with Vanity Fair today, Rian Johnson, who directed the popular movie "Knives Out," shared an interesting tidbit about iPhone product placement deals for films. Apple, he says, allows iPhones to be used in movies, but bad guys aren't allowed to have iPhones on camera.

The relevant passage starts at 2:50 into the video

Apple is known for having strict rules about how devices are used, portrayed, and photographed. As part of its guidelines for using Apple trademarks and copyrights, for example, Apple says that Apple products should only be shown "in the best light, in a manner or context that reflects favorably on the Apple products and on Apple Inc."

As noted by our forum members, people have in the past pointed out that it's the good guys that use Apple products in TV shows in movies. When "24" was on the air, Wired wrote about a fan theory that the good guys use Macs while the bad guys use PCs, which turned out to be accurate.

Given this tidbit from Johnson, who is a well-respected director, many people may be watching movies with a much keener eye on the devices that actors and actresses are using to suss out hidden details.

Article Link: Director Rian Johnson: Apple Doesn't Let Bad Guys Use iPhones on Camera in Movies

Not true, there's -only- Apple stuff in the morning show, and certainly not only used by the good guys..
 
How can Apple enforce this? Surely you don't need permission from the manufacturer for every real world product seen in a piece of fiction set in the real world? Are you telling me when I see someone using a pencil on TV they got permission from Mitsubishi?

No...he's implying they have paid product placement so they can request that their product is not used in a certain way. If Uniball paid for product placement in The Dark Knight they may say they want some other pencil to be used by the joker to Stab that guy though the eye.
 
No...he's implying they have paid product placement so they can request that their product is not used in a certain way. If Uniball paid for product placement in The Dark Knight they may say they want some other pencil to be used by the joker to Stab that guy though the eye.

Ah, so it's not so much they don't let you depict bad guys with iPhones, they just won't pay you to. Seems odd to me - bad guys are usually cooler than good guys. Everyone wanted Alan Rickman to win in Die Hard didn't they? And Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In fact, don't you always want Alan Rickman to win?
 
Maybe I don't watch the right kind of TV, but the article is right, in that I struggle to think of any villains who use Apple products.

The only definite case I can think of is the British drama Utopia, where the villains who are questioning Grant leave him in a room with a Macbook Pro. The scene is only memorable because he later removes the bottom panel and fashions a crude weapon out of it (something that shouldn't have been possible with that model of MBP).

Maybe British TV just plays faster and looser with this, because the other semi-example I can think of is from Torchwood (season 1, episode 11) where a villain is briefly seen using Mac OS, but it is quite clearly running on a Windows laptop. Hackintosh or production error? You decide!

Speaking of OSes not matching the devices they're running on, the mother in Atypical uses a Mac OS with Yosemite's flattened design on a Mac that is too old to be running Yosemite. And in Jupiter Ascending (2015), the title character's iPhone can be seen running iOS 6 in an early scene, then iOS 7, then back to iOS 6 again. But I guess practical limits around signing servers don't so much matter if you're in a movie where bees can recognise royalty.
 
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Not to get too serious with this, but the various studios are already invoking affirmative action for the protective classes of people portrayed in movie roles. From a diversity and inclusion viewpoint, material associations such as food, products, etc. create negative stereotypes that the real populations they portray have to live with.
 
You only get a Tim Cook but no Darth Vader Edition then...

https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/galaxy-note10/star-wars-special-edition/

galaxy-note10_star-wars-edition_dark_side.jpg
 
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If you’re watching content in which characters are flattened into a binary perspective of “good” and “bad” then you have no business anywhere near Apple products.
 
ummm that's Kylo Ren...imitation of Darth Vader.

He's Darth Vader's grandson. If the grandfather is Smith then the grandson is also a Smith representing the heritage line.

Anyhow, the point is it's a dumb profiling policy. What's next, only certain race and sexual orientation can be portrayed with phone?
 
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This is actually funny. Sometimes negative placement can actually work for a product. I think Apple is over playing this, but it's their brand.
In the 80s I worked at Subway. This was before Jared, before Sandwich Artist, before the toaster oven, and we sliced all our own meat and veggies right in the store. There were a total of 15 Subway stores in Texas, and the store I worked in had been the first in the state.

Fast forward a few years and some massive growth (still pre toaster, Jared, and Sandwich artists), and Subway got its very first product placement in the film Lethal Weapon 2. In order to film the scene where Subway is featured, they needed a drive-thru, and there were no Subways with drive-thrus, at least in the area where they were filming. They built a drive thru on an existing Subway location to film the scene.

I don't know whether Subway paid for the product placement, but Subway advertised the movie in their stores.

The scene in the film has the characters picking up food at the Subway drive thru. Later they are eating the food. One of the characters gripes that they never get the order right.

Subway went on to have products featured in The Beverly Hillbillies, and Coneheads. Both featured their six-foot sandwich. I think in Coneheads, one of the characters ate the whole thing in one bite ("consume mass quantities!").
 
Not really a spoiler for movies, as a villain in a movie could use an iPhone. Apple just wouldn’t pay the producers for placement fees.
That's like saying having Sean Bean playing a character isn't a spoiler. IT IS a spoiler. Good guy uses Apples, bad guys uses PC's. Sean Bean playing a character means that character is gonna die. Name one Sean Bean character who didn't die?;)
 
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I couldn't stop laughing after I read Rian Johnson was a well respected director. We are talking about the Director of The Last Jedi, right? The director that JJA created a whole movie basically saying everything Rian Johnson did was wrong and terrible and needs to to away? That Rian Johnson.
 
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Always wondered about a Docu-drama. That's supposed to be true to life like. Halfway between truth and fiction, what happens then?

It’s not really Apple’s problem what the show is trying to achieve. A doco about the Beatles would still have to license the music even though it’s the subject of the show and a matter of historical record. If you don’t like that arrangement, you can make a story about something else. That’s probably overstating things are far as iPhones go. It wouldn’t be terribly easy for Apple to win a lawsuit unless the appearance of the phone was enhancing the value of the movie in the way that say, certain cars enhance a Bond movie.
 
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I couldn't stop laughing after I read Rian Johnson was a well respected director. We are talking about the Director of The Last Jedi, right? The director that JJA created a whole movie basically saying everything Rian Johnson did was wrong and terrible and needs to to away? That Rian Johnson.
JJ’s movies are pure cringe.
 
I'll never understand why everyone's attention span has dwindled to that of a goldfish. Knives Out easily could have been another 90 minutes+ long.

Right? It's pretty brilliant, but I saw someone [on this site] say something about it having, ummm, "too much talking", hahaha, wow. Yeah, it's a whodunnit, a murder mystery, the whole genre is about talking, investigation, word play, character exposition.

That comment reminded me of the bit in Amadeus, "My dear, young man, don't take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Cut a few and it will be perfect." :p
 
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Right? It's pretty brilliant, but I saw someone [on this site] say something about it having, ummm, "too much talking", hahaha, wow. Yeah, it's a whodunnit, a murder mystery, the whole genre is about talking, investigation, word play, character exposition.

That comment reminded me of the bit in Amadeus, "My dear, young man, don't take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Cut a few and it will be perfect." :p

Love your profile pic, btw.
 
Those of us who prefer plot twists, real character evolution, and creativity, rather than tired rehashes and bland fan service, think Rian did just great with Star Wars.

I absolutely contend he provided the best 3/12ths of the most recent trilogy (yes, three-twelfths :D) I'm a big fan of Rian Johnson, not just his film work, but also his insight into the film industry (had had a couple of great interviews on Reel Blend, a couple of other prominent film pods).
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Love your profile pic, btw.

Hahaha, yeah, given the current climate, it felt right, but we've had this funny (as in, probably only funny to us ...) thing around here about The Mothman, like "I bet were having tacos tonight, because I can see into the future! I'm the Mothman!" and you have to say it in like this high OH HAI kind of high pitched voice.

Hahaha, it sounds even dumber when I explain it :p I printed out a little mothman and taped it to the inside window in the wife's car, our little G got home from school one day after she finally noticed it, ran in,"OMG! I saw the mothman!"
 
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Hahaha, yeah, given the current climate, it felt right, but we've had this funny (as in, probably only funny to us ...) thing around here about The Mothman, like "I bet were having tacos tonight, because I can see into the future! I'm the Mothman!" and you have to say it in like this high OH HAI kind of high pitched voice.

Hahaha, it sounds even dumber when I explain it :p I printed out a little mothman and taped it to the inside window in the wife's car, our little G got home from school one day after she finally noticed it, ran in,"OMG! I saw the mothman!"

I mean, he'll certainly get the demolition portion of infrastructure upgrades done.
 
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I like them. Up until the ending. He never seems to have an actual ending.

Fringe was good, though.
He is just not a talented director and has never directed anything that’s been lauded by anyone as “great”.

He seems like a good man, and I think he’s a good producer and should do more producing and let others do the creative work.
 
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