Jacques Chirac Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Back in December, Karina reported on a vote by the French Parliament, sneaking in passing an amendment that would legalize downloads of music and movies for a flat fee. The amendment would have had users pay a flat tax to their ISP, which would then distribute the funds to an umbrella organization set up to disburse artists' royalties. Sounds -pretty cool, n'est-ce pas? Yeah, well, don't start packing that French-Engtish dictionary and other worldly possessions into your carry-on duffel bag just yet. Seems that  little vote back in December has really raised the ire of Gallic politicians and media industry folk. The media industry's take? Shockingly enough, they oppose the move to make downloads more freely accessible, claiming the flat tax wouldn't appropriately reimburse them for their "investment in the recording industry".

Even within political parties, folks can't seem to agree on what to do, though according to Variety, one deputy from President Jacques Chirac's party recently expressed support for the amendment, comparing the issue of pirated downloads to trying to stop people drinking alcohol during Prohibition. Interesting, given Chirac's stance on wanting tough laws to protect copyright - wonder if that deputy is now out of a job? At any rate, it's back in the hands of the politicians, and if French politics are anything like US politics, that means the likelihood  of consensus on the issue in the near future is pretty much nil. So might as well resume your regularly scheduled illegal downloading - hah! hah!  - just kidding! We at Cinematical would never encourage anyone to do anything illegal, even in France.

According to The Da Vinci Code's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, a meet and greet with French president Jacques Chirac last year turned into something quite different. About a year ago, the pair was in Paris trying to get permits to film in the Louvre. While there, they were invited to meet with Chirac, an encounter that they figured would be "a five-minute thing, like a trip to the Oval Office - a photo and a handshake." (Yeah, a lot of the things I do remind me of my trips to the Oval Office, too.) Instead, the photo and handshake turned into an hour over coffee, during which time Chirac reportedly lobbied to get his daughter's best friend ("an actress of some renown in France") cast in the film - as the female lead, no less. In addition, he suggested that Jean Reno needed to be paid more for his work as "relentless French detective Bezu Fache."

Though Howard described the whole thing as "hilarious," unless he and Grazer were giving Chirac governing tips at the same time, the conversation seems slightly ill-advised. Funny, yes, but ill-advised.