07/01/2010

"Eagle Pictures, the Italian distributor of the film by Mona Achache, has refused to include on the Italian poster the caption 'loosely based on' and has used graphic elements of my book’s cover without consent from myself or my editors,” says Muriel Barbery, author of the bestseller The Elegance of the Hedgehog, of the controversy between her and the distributor of The Hedgehog [+see also:
trailer
film profile], released in Italy on January 5.

According to Barbery, "[the poster] suggests that the film and book are the same. Which forces me to re-state that the book and film are too different to carry the same title. I cannot accept that Eagle Pictures does not respect my desire to maintain the difference between the book and the film".

"The contract ceding film rights to The Elegance of the Hedgehog, signed by Muriel Barbery, explicitly included the producers’ and distributors’ use of the phrasing “based on’,” says Mark Lombardo, CEO of Eagle Pictures, which also co-produced the film. "Morever, the film, as many critics have stated, is extremely faithful to the book’s feel and atmosphere and even the story respects the original plot".

The writer had originally worked with the young filmmaker on the script but withdrew from the project. She did not want the film, which in France has garnered over 750,000 admissions, carry the novel’s title.

(Translated from Italian)