Bruce Willis on the attack

buttmunch · February 15th, 2006, 04:10 AM

Quote:

February 15, 2006 -- SUPERSTAR Bruce Willis has come out swinging in defense of I-made-it-up "memoirist" James Frey while trashing the celebrity media for good measure.
The Hollywood he-man says he's a big fan of the "A Million Little Pieces" author-turned-literary-pariah, and he's, instead, directing his ire at former Frey booster Oprah Winfrey, the smarmy scribes at Entertainment Weekly and celeb gossip magazines.

"Look at what happened to James Frey in the last two weeks," Willis rants to iFMagazine. "That's a great book and so is the follow-up book ["My Friend Leonard"]. And just because his publisher chose to say that these were memoirs, it took it out of being a work of fiction, a great work of fiction and very well-written, to this guy having to go be sucker-punched on 'Oprah' by one of the most powerful women in television just to grind her own ax about it."

"Hey, Oprah," Willis continues. "You had President Clinton on your show, and if this [bleep] didn't lie about a couple of things, I'm going to set myself on fire right now. James Frey is a writer, OK? He can write whatever he wants. It's fiction, and it's just hard, it's just shameful how he was treated in some of these things."

Willis says Justin Timberlake "was asked to play James Frey in the making of that book, and he waited and waited and listened to everyone and he said - 'Have you heard of this magazine called In Touch magazine or Us Weekly or InStyle or People or any of these magazines? They lie about people and they just make up [bleep] all week long, and you have to sue them to get it changed.'

"This is the world that we live in. That's approved and people go, 'That's OK,' and people go, 'Ooooo, someone is [bleeping] this person over here. Someone did this over here.' And they're all lies and no one is yelling at them. So let's leave James Frey alone."

Without pausing for breath, Willis turned on Entertainment Weekly, which recently wrote that "Die Hard IV" was one sequel they "didn't want to see." EW "hates me," he fumed. "They've hated me since they've been a magazine. F - - - them. And you can go tell them that."

nypost.com

ourmaninBusan · February 15th, 2006, 04:26 AM

Quote:

"And just because his publisher chose to say that these were memoirs,
it took it out of being a work of fiction, a great work of fiction and very
well-written, to this guy having to go be sucker-punched on 'Oprah' by
one of the most powerful women in television just to grind her own ax
about it."

If this is true, then Frey himself did not perpetuate a fraud; this is
the heart of the matter.

I'm reading that authors sign away a lot of control over their work,
present and future, when they agree to a publishing deal. They don't
design the cover art, they may not get their original title, and they
certainly don't get to dictate when it gets published. What's more,
if their option clause is unfavorable, they may get stuck with the
same publisher for the next book or two...

So it is entirely plausible to say that Frey was greatly pressured to
misleading Oprah and the rest of the world.

buttmunch · February 15th, 2006, 04:32 AM

Perhaps it was the dicision of the publisher, but he had to agree to it. He also went on and on and on about it being the truth in so many interviews. He's a liar and should have more balls than to succumb to anyone's pressure. He's not a kid and he should remember that once you lose your integrity, it's pretty much gone forever. That said, Oprah was an asshole and once again did a complete turnabout once she realized that the thinking public was pissed.

luvmy2cats · February 15th, 2006, 08:21 AM

I just finished reading the book last night and thought it was excellent. He may have stretched the truth when writing the book, however it has been written by a former addict about his experiences. Since he lived this, he does not have the perception of a bystander. Either way, it is a story about strength and hope and if this book makes even one person look at their life and change things for the better then James Frey should not be castigated it. It took a lot of strength and courage to write a book about his life and expose himself for all to see.

buttmunch · February 15th, 2006, 08:51 AM

Everything I've heard about the book has been positive but that doesn't negate the fact that it was marketed as truth when in fact it was essentially a work of fiction. Most writers draw on autobiographical material, then embellish it to create a linear story with meaning. And they market it as fiction, not non-fiction. And Frey was part and parcel of the deception, which is simply wrong.