Advertising closed for Roy Scheider's final film by order of Facebook
Roy Scheider’s final film, Beautiful Blue Eyes, - a title which the late Jaws actor suggested to the producers - has been banned from being promoted on Facebook.
It's nothing to do with the quality of the film, which is currently being screened in over 400 Regal Cinemas across the US, but - according to the social media giant – it’s because the title breaches Facebook’s policy against content that ‘includes direct or indirect assertions or implications about a person’s race.’
Clearly the filmmakers would have rather let Polly do the algorithms rather than those at Facebook HQ as the title of the thriller relates to the eye colour of a child who died at the hands of the Nazis and is related to a key scene in the Roy Scheider’s film swansong.
The film is set in Germany with flashbacks to Nazi-occupied Poland. It follows the story of Joseph (Scheider), a retired NYPD cop who visits his estranged son Ronnie and is convinced that his neighbour is the SS Commander, who slaughtered his entire family in 1941.
Scheider’s character convinces his son to help him kidnap the neighbour. The twice=Oscar nominated actor passed away before the film was finished, but it has now been able to be completed thanks to advances in CGI and AI technology.
Even Deputy Hendricks wouldn't need to investigate the Facebook claim much to see that it doesn't stand up, but - much like the coroner in Jaws – Meta-Facebook have stood by their decision, even when it was appealed. All advertising for the film on Facebook is banned.
And the filmmakers don't find it funny, don't find it funny at all. The film’s director Joshua Newton recently spoke to Rolling Stone magazine about the issue and how it was impacting the reach of the film.
He told them: “Every decent and sane human being on this planet should be alarmed by Meta-Facebook’s ban on the advertising of a Holocaust-related film.
“Mark Zuckerberg has created a monster that has no oversight. It’s one thing to be flagged by an algorithm. It’s another for Meta-Facebook employees to review the flag and uphold it, knowing full well that the title is not discriminatory and that the film is Holocaust-related.”
It would seem grossly unfair that Roy Scheider's final film might not find its intended audience as easy as it should do , just because Facebook won't let it advertise.
If the film sounds somewhat familiar to Scheider fans, a version of it was released in 2009 under the title of Iron Cross. Beautiful Blue Eyes is a reworking of that film, which was completed without Scheider as he passed away in 2008 whilst it was still in production. He had completed all his scenes for the film, but technical issues meant reshoots, which of course could no longer include Scheider.
Due to the advances in technology that has now been made possible, giving us a film closer to its original vision and a reinstated Roy Scheider in his final ever film role.
Do you find the film's title is discriminatory, or do you think Meta-Facebook have been too strict and gone too far in their criteria? Or should the filmmakers have stuck to its original limited release title, Iron Cross?
Words by Dean Newman
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