[I'm getting a lot of this from a great article written by Roger Ebert, RIP, who, IMHO, was the most dedicated, knowledgeable, and wise Film Writer of our time.]
Credits are quite often done in a seemingly strange fashion for a number of reasons. Most often the order of the credits - or the "wording" of them (e.g. - for the opening credits, it may be someone special or unexpected playing a small(er) role, so the opening creds might read, Sylvester Stallone, Actor B, C, D, AND Bruce Willis) - are set up contractually.
So, a movie might have 10 or more writers; in that case, the WGA would have to decide who actually wrote material used in the film, and then those decreed to have contributed to the script would be listed randomly, esp. if there's not, say, 2 or 4 writers that contributed more to a film.
Scrapmetal7 makes a good point about the NEED for credits. As far as I know, theatrically released movies MUST have credits. The filmmaker can decide, however, whether to put the film's credits at the movie's beginning, ending, or both. He must also decide WHO gets credited at all. Examples of credits at the beg. of a film ONLY include:Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Snuff; and Guy Ritchie's Revolver. The opposite (no beginning credits) is found much more often, in films such as:The Godfather; Donnie Darko; and Hot Fuzz.
But I digress. If I remember The Killing Jar correctly, the opening credits just list the actor's names (no character names), and it is only after the film that Harold Perrineau is credited as playing Smith. I believe IMDB is MUCH too busy to watch every film they are writing on; in fact, Scrapmetal7 (or any other IMDB user that believes a change should happen on the site) can easily write to IMDB about any errors, suggestions, etc. Because of IMDB's high usage, they not only allow, but strongly encourage feedback from their users.
2 quick things - 1) In Se7en AND Star Trek III, actors are left out of the opening credits to maintain suspense. So, in Se7en, Kevin Spacey isn't in the opening creds, but is the first actor listed at the end of the film. ST3 does a similar thing by not listing Leonard Nemoy in the opening creds.
2) For those that have seen The Killing Jar (or are about to see it - if so, don't read the spoilers), I would appreciate some help on this "conspiracy theory" I have about the film. I believe that Danny Trejo was not originally in this movie, and was only added when Trejo started getting some "mainstream fame", via Machete. Why do I believe this? First, look at the IMDB page for this film. Top left of the page is the original theatrical poster (showing Jake Busey and 3 other actors from the film). But just below that, there's a photo of the DVD release cover, where Busey has been replaced by... Danny Trejo! Next, I'm 99% sure that at least 1 or 2 of the restaurant's patrons ask for something from the kitchen, and someone (I forget who, exactly - I haven't seen this movie in ages) says, "The kitchen's closed" at least twice, and may even have said, "Sorry - the chef's gone home", or something like that. But then why we be shown Danny Trejo, being a chef, in a kitchen?? Finally, Trejo is NEVER ONCE seen on the screen with another actor, nor do we see him talking to one (or even acknowledging their existence)!!
If anybody wants to discuss this idea, please either: a) respond to THIS EXACT message; b) send me a personal note; or c) email me at [email protected].
Sorry, one more quick thing. I saw a short film at the EIFF a couple of years ago. Since the film fest was being funded partially by the feds, they had to have some French stuff play at the fest. Anyway, the movie had no opening creds, very little dialogue (if there was any it wouldn't have helped us English speakers much!), and it was shot in such a fashion that you couldn't quite make out what was happening. Point is, all was cleared up when the ending credits showed. It's been quite awhile, but it was something like:
Jean Francais - Killer
Bell Gamounique - Killers Girlfriend
I just thought that, since we were talking about Credits, I'd talk about the only film I'd ever seen in which the credits were the solution to the mystery.
My rant is done. Go forth in jee-oh-dee's everlasting love!
"I am insane... and you are my insanity" - James Cole, 12 Monkeys
-AK
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