…a said celebrities aren’t pleased with how their characters were portrayed, can they sue the writer.
In the novel Runaway Heart, Stephen J Cannell uses the names of Barbra Streisand and her husband James Brolin by allowing one his fictional characters the use of a Mercedes and one of their guest-houses while they are gone to one of their island homes.
The names are sprinkled quite generously throughout the book, although not in any way detrimental to either Streisand or Brolin, and it is also possible that Cannell received permission from both before using the names, given his status in the entertainment industry.
But what if he made them both villains, and/or didn’t obtain permission? Could he be sued, or would the whole thing come under “poetic license” or even satire?
At the front of the book, where the author sometimes thanks those who helped him write it, there was no mention made thanking the celebs for the use of their personas.
Well, along the same lines, Tom Clancy has used Prince Charles and Lady Di as characters in his books, and W.P. Kinsella used J.D. Salinger as a character in his novel “Shoeless Joe” (which later became the movie “Field of Dreams.”
In neither case did the author mock or insult the real people he included in his books. Indeed, Clancy seems to admire the British royal family, and Kinsella is undoubtedly a Salinger fan. But Salinger, not surprisingly, was outraged. Think about it- Salinger ALREADY has thousands of deranged fans! He was probably thinking, “Just what I need- a lunatic who thinks he’s hearing voices telling him to kidnap me at gunpoint!”
As for the legalities… I think a fiction writer has the same rights as a non-fiction author, and a few more. Since Salinger and the Royals are definitely public figures, they’re fair game for both attacks in the press and for use as fictional characters.
However, you’ll note that when the movie “Field of Dreams” was made, Salinger was changed into a completely fictional character.
You have a lot of leeway in the use of public figures in the US in fiction. Remember, libel requires defamation, which involves making false statements of fact. Since a novel is, by definition, not fact, it’s very hard to prove libel.
Authors are usually free to use public figures in novels. One example is Robert Coover’s “The Public Burning,” where Richard Nixon (still alive when it was published) has a prominent part. You also have plenty of leeway in a construction like “he had muscles like Arnold Schwarzeneggar.” I suspect the change away from Salinger mentioned about was made out of respect for Salinger’s wishes, not because he had any legal leverage about it.
In nonfiction, as long as you stick to the facts, you can write what you want about public figures.
If you ever saw the movie Star 80, you can see an interesting example of using public figures. Dorothy Stratten and her ex-husband/killer Paul Snider were both characters. Hugh Hefner was also considered to be a public figure and was a character in the film. But Peter Bogdanovich was not considered well-known enough to be a public figure and was replaced by the fictional character of Aram Nicholas. Stratten’s parents were also considered private figures, so in the movie Stratten was raised by a fictitious aunt.
The reason I ask is because I’ve been working with a guy who recently wrote a biographical musical comedy based on the political life of a former mayor of my hometown, and this author’s under the impression that he can’t use the real names of people still-living without their permission. (And several of the more interesting people involved probably wouldn’t grant permission.)
So, what is a “public figure?” Locally, these potential characters in the story are very well known, but beyond the scope of the imidieate region, audiences probably wouldn’t know them from Adam or Eve.
Hey, I know this one. You can use a public figure fictitiously if you do not defame them or cast them in a false light. Honest.
The main character in my first novel (actually, first four) has a good-teeth fetish and will not look at a man unless his teeth are in excellent shape. To illustrate this, early in the first book I gave her a rich friend who knew Peter Fonda and knew that he had a DOG with tooth implants, as a consequence of attempting to chew up the bear trap instead of chewing up his leg. Her standard becomes, sort of, if Peter Fonda’s dog can afford it, so can anyone.
I put this in the book and forgot about it, until it sold, and then I looked up everything I could find and consulted lawyers to figure out whether I could leave it in. My real fear was that the person who told me about this would be pissed off and would never speak to me again, or at least would never again dish out any private dirt about the celebrities she knows intimately. Then I figured we hadn’t spoken in some months anyway, so what the hell. (Never trust a writer.)
I also mentioned Susan Lucci and a bunch of other well-known celebrities, but only using stuff that’s out in the open. Like, that Susan Lucci had been nominated for an Emmy every year for 19 years and hadn’t won yet, which was true when I wrote the book and had to be changed when the book was in pages and didn’t sound nearly as good (because it still had to set up as the same number of lines). I figure Susan Lucci owes me!
Michael Tolkin has a number of Hollywood celebrities make cameos in his novel The Player (later used as the basis of the Robert Altman movie). It’s been a few years since I read it, but I seem to recall that while he doesn’t overtly attack anybody, there’s a subtle aroma of authorial snideness wafting through a number of the celebrity scenes. It’s a pretty funny book, if anybody’s interested; it’s got a dark, cutting edge the movie lacks. The only thing the movie improves, in fact, is the ending.
Anyway, the point is, I’m sure Tolkin didn’t get anybody’s permission before he wrote the book. Based on the material, there’s no way anybody would have granted it had he tried asking.
Just remember, even if you are within the boundaries of the law, they can still sue you. If they have more money than you (and so often they do), or have more to lose, that can get real bad for you.
Novels are much easier to put people/things in than movies. For example, in The Sum of All Fears, Tom Clancy made plenty of references to the NFL, Super Bowl, and the Minnesota Vikings and San Diego Chargers (he didn’t use any real player names).
But when it got made into a movie all the football terms were fictionalized.
Worst case scenario: a judge and a jury. The author uses someone he feels is a public figure, the person in question disagrees, and it’s lawyers at fifty paces.
The Riverworld stories use real people as characters (albeit deceased people), some of whom are survived by their immediate families. Children and spouses, even.
I’ve yet to hear about any legal trouble arising from this.
Science Fiction writer James P. Hogan did something very interesting in his book The Proteus Project, a time-travel story. He actually got permission to use anyone still living as a character (Asimov was one such). I don’t know of anyone else who’s ever done that.
In a related note, they reportedly had to change the sex of Freud’s child from a daughter to a son in the movie version of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution because of Anna Freud’s objections. (I wonder what the implications of sex-changing a Freud are.)