Buzz
The 1997 film Contact, featuring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey, was a big success for Warner Bros. However, the film—directed by Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis and adapted from Carl Sagan's novel—triggered an official complaint from the White House.
The controversy stemmed from a scene showing President Bill Clinton at a 1996 press conference, where he was discussing a rock thought to be from Mars. In the film, Zemeckis edited the footage to make it appear as though Clinton was referencing messages believed to be from extraterrestrials.
Among the (exact) lines that were included in the movie were:
“If this discovery is confirmed, it will undoubtedly rank as one of the most remarkable revelations about our universe ever made by science. Its far-reaching consequences are as vast and awe-inspiring as one could imagine. While it may provide answers to some of our oldest questions, it simultaneously raises even more profound ones. We will continue to listen attentively to its messages as we persist in our quest for understanding and knowledge that has been vital to humanity for centuries, yet is crucial to the future of our people.”
This sentiment aligns perfectly with Contact, a story in which a scientist believes she has discovered evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life and attempts to establish first contact.
The issue? It appears the filmmakers did not get permission to use Clinton’s remarks. As reported by Variety, a Warner Bros. spokesperson claimed that the studio believed it had been “completely transparent and upfront with The White House regarding this matter”—they even sent over the scripts and a copy of the completed film. However, the administration’s complaint argued that using the almost-unaltered footage was “inappropriate” because policy “forbids the President from being used in any way … (that) implies a direct … connection between the President and a commercial product or service.”
Concerning the argument that the footage's use fell under parody and satire protections of the First Amendment, Clinton’s press secretary at the time, Mike McCurry, countered, “there is a distinction when the President’s image, which he alone controls, is used in a way that makes the viewer believe he said something he didn’t actually say.” (A First Amendment attorney and an intellectual property lawyer consulted by Variety were divided on the issue. Edward Rosenthal, an IP lawyer and representative for the Humphrey Bogart estate, stated, “Public figures have a right of publicity and privacy that prevents their images and likenesses from being used in commercial ventures, and this applies to the President of the United States. The real question is whether a motion picture qualifies as a commercial use or is protected First Amendment speech.”)
Warner Bros. acknowledged that it had not received formal approval to use the footage. The White House did not demand the film be pulled or even re-edited; instead, the administration’s aim was to highlight the unauthorized use of the President’s image—likely as a deterrent for future instances. The scene remains unchanged in all versions of the movie.
Contact wasn’t the first film in which Zemeckis used presidential footage. In Forrest Gump (1994), the director had actor Tom Hanks digitally inserted into historical clips, allowing his character, Gump, to interact with presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon, as well as pop culture icons like John Lennon.
Creating these scenes required intricate choreography and, in some cases, months of work; the visual effects team, Industrial Light & Magic, earned an Oscar in 1994 for their efforts. However, George Murphy, the computer graphics supervisor at ILM at the time, acknowledged the challenges posed by the technology: “In Forrest Gump, our manipulation of history was subtle and innocent. We didn’t alter political views or act with malice,” he told the Tampa Bay Times. “What it illustrates, though, is the potential to create extreme scenarios. ... Now, we can no longer accept images at face value, and in some ways, that’s a positive change, because images have always had the power to deceive.”
