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Tag: Daniel Clowes

  • Patton Oswalt Joins the Shia LaBeouf Twitter War

    Patton Oswalt, stand-up comedian, writer, actor and voice actor, is the latest Twitter enemy of actor Shia LaBeouf.

    LaBeouf has had several run-ins with celebrities on Twitter, including Lena Dunham, after his unorthodox means of apologizing after plagiarizing works of “Ghost World” cartoonist Daniel Clowes.

    After allegations of plagiarism, LaBeouf tweeted a slew of apologies when it came to light that the actor took parts of Clowes’ 2007 graphic novella, Justin M. Damiano, and used them in his film.

    Following the tweets, the actor then hired skywriters to create a five-mile wide apology across the Los Angeles sky which said, “I am sorry Daniel Clowes.”

    In the wake of the apologies and the skywriting debacle, several celebrities took to Twitter to voice their disdain at LaBeouf’s actions, including Seth Rogen and Oswalt.

    Image via Wikimedia

  • Shia LaBeouf Apologizes For Plagiarism With Message In The Sky

    Shia LaBeouf got into some trouble recently after he used someone else’s idea for a short film that he had made. The film debuted at film festivals over a year ago, but was just published to the public online as of recently, and gained the attention of the man who wrote the original immediately.

    He released a short film called Howardcantor.com online on December 17, 2013, and it was revealed shortly after that he could be facing legal action for plagiarism. His film tells the story of an anguished online film critic, and he is played by comedian Jim Gaffigan.

    The story was borrowed from a graphic novella called Justin M. Damiano by Daniel Clowes. Days after, Daniel Clowes was already exploring his legal options after it seemed that Shia LaBeouf had copied his story almost exactly.

    As a result, Shia LaBeouf has apologized, and did it in the most epic way possible. He hired an airplane to write in the sky “I’m sorry Daniel Clowes.”

    However, it may not be the most genuine of apologizes because it was reported that it could simply be raising suspicion that the actor has moved on from saying he’s sorry, and is now simply taunting Clowes fans and LaBeouf critics.

    LaBeouf has been in all sorts of trouble since putting the film online, and although he even took to Twitter to address the claims of plagiarism, it was even revealed that he had plagiarized much of his apologetic tweets.

    He had a string of tweets, and while some of them sounded very genuine, others can be traced almost exactly to the apologizes made by people such as Mark Zuckerberg and Lars Von Trier. His initial tweets were also reminiscent of something that Picasso said in order to defend his work.

    He also had to post a photo on Twitter because it was unlikely the author, who lives in San Francisco, would have been able to see his message during the short time that it was visible before the words disappeared in the wind.

    Shia Labeouf had neglected to formally apologize to Daniel Clowes for the way that he had illegally used his work until now. How genuine is an apology that comes in the form of sky writing?

    Image via Twitter

  • Shia LaBeouf Could Face Legal Action Over Plagiarism

    Shia LaBeouf recently got himself into some trouble over a short film that he made. He debuted a short film called Howardcantor.com online, and it was quickly revealed that he had borrowed the same idea for a film that had already been used without giving credit.

    While it seems like something that most people learn in middle or high school, Shia LaBeouf seems to have overlooked the ethics of borrowing another person’s idea somehow. As a result, he could be facing legal trouble. He copied the story from a 2007 graphic novella called Justin M. Damiano by Daniel Clowes.

    Daniel Clowes is currently exploring his legal options, as the new story by Shia LaBeouf seems to reflect the original almost exactly.

    The short was taken down shortly after its release, and following that, he went on Twitter to address the claims of plagiarism. As if that wasn’t enough, some people that saw his apology even claim that he had plagiarized that from the internet, giving the same excuse of why Picasso had copied.

    The short film, which was debuted online by LaBeouf on Monday, tells the story of an anguished online film critic, and he is played by comedian Jim Gaffigan. The film began its circulation in the festival circuit hitting festivals such as Cannes in 2012, but did not officially reach the public until it was posted online this week, gaining the attention of Daniel Clowes.

    Shia LaBeouf did mention that the work was his inspiration, and he is embarrassed that he forgot to give credit in a rant on Twitter. However, Reynolds said that he has still failed to reach out to Clowes and personally apologize for what he did.

    Image via Twitter

  • Shia Labeouf Might Face Legal Action For Plagiarism

    Who knew plagiarizing another persons work could result in legal ramifications? Almost everyone, but maybe not Shia Labeouf.

    On Monday, Labeouf debuted his short film Howard Cantour online and many people noticed the story line was similar to something they had read before.

    The story line of Howard Cantour “examines the life of an anguished online film critic.” That familiar story line could be found in the 2007 graphic novella Justin M. Damiamo by Daniel Clowes.

    Now it looks like Clowes may be looking to take legal action against Labeouf. According to Fantographics’ Eric Reynolds, Clowes’ publisher, the writer “is exploring his legal options.”

    Reynolds was “baffled” when he found out about LaBeouf plagiarizing Clowes’ work. “LaBeouf changed the name of the main character, but he used the comic as a direct script and storyboard. Clowes has a real melodramatic voice that is very idiosyncratic and LaBeouf just used the dialogue word for word. There is no ambiguity. There is no way that anybody wrote this but Dan Clowes. It just defies any kind of logic or good sense. This was so blatant and inexcusable that it was as baffling as it was appalling.”

    Labeouf took to his Twitter on Tuesday to apologize for plagiarizing Clowes’ work, explaining that he was sorry for not giving credit to Clowes during the process of making his short film and regretted plagiarizing his work.

    The actor has continued to apologize and talk about the plagiarism on Twitter.

    Even though Labeouf has flooded his Twitter account with apologies, Reynolds says he hasn’t reached out to Clowes to apologize to him directly. Said Reynolds, “As far as I know the only comments he has given were those late night Twitter comments a few nights ago.”

    The short film has since been taken down from the website.

    Image via Labeouf’s official Twitter account.