In Dave Barry’s ‘Big Trouble’ there is a scene where someone is hallucinating and thinks that Elizabeth Dole is talking to him through a dog. In the movie the dog has the head of Martha Stewart. Why did they make the change? Did they think not enough people would know who Elizabeth Dole is, even after she is mentioned by the character and it is repeated by another character?
I think it’s a bad change. There is just something very weird about hallucinating about Elizabeth Dole, while hallucinating about Martha Stewart is just a little wacky (well, depending on what age she is in the hallucinations, she was quite the hotty and is still a fine looking older woman).
I think it’s allowable to use the likenesses of public figures in those kinds of circumstances without legal repercussions.
It’s been a while since I read the book, but as I recall the dog didn’t grow Mrs. Dole’s head, just talked with her voice and the guy just knew it was Mrs. Dole. Even if the hallucination did get visual (can’t remember for sure) they could have done it without special effects. Just show the character reacting to the hallucination and yelling at the dog, and have another character ask him what’s going on. I think that would be funnier than actually showing the audience the hallucination.