Madeleine McCann: Not A Film, A Book And The McCanns Making Money
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “Madeleine’s parents planning Hollywood blockbuster movie”
“Kate and Gerry sparked outrage after it was revealed they have held negotiations with leading producers over the movie rights. The couple – who are prime suspects in the case – are also considering book and TV deals in a package worth an estimated £10million”
A book? Like the Daily Express book? That sick..?
Kate McCann: Michelle Pfeiffer
Gerry McCann: James Caan
Madeleine McCann: Macaulay Culkin
And what of this £10million, and the money earned from any film? “The windfall would help finance the search for Madeleine after concerns were raised that a special fund set up by the family was in crisis”
Page 5: The Find Madeleine fund is down to its last £400,000. More money is needed. So why the “outrage”?
Says the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell: “We need money to search for Madeleine and that is the most important thing. Nothing has been decided yet. A film would be made on a percentage basis, with part of the profits going to the fund. None of the money would go to Kate and Gerry. They are not trying in any way to profit out of her name’’
And how many films ever make a profit? It would be a film, perhaps, like that about 15-year-old Amy Smart, abducted in the US and found eight months later. “Several movies were made about her while she was missing including The Amy Smart Story”
The “WORLD’S GREATEST NEWSPAPER” does not say if the Amy Smart story made any money. But it does trawl the web and see blog comments like:
“Angry” Pamela Blears, from Oldham, posts: “From the day little Madeleine disappeared I have felt sympathy and compassion for the McCanns but this beggers belief. How can they think about making a film out of the tragedy when the poor child hasn’t even been found yet? How low can you get?”
The Daily Express costs “ONLY 40p”
“McCANNS FEAR CHARGES SOON” – “A source close to the family” tells us: “Kate and Gerry insist they are innocent but they fear they will be charged. Naturally Kate and Gerry are concerned that if this line of inquiry continues to its natural conclusion, charges are always a possibility and they know that’s entirely wrong”
He added: “The Portuguese police seem to be blinkered in their approach and it feels like they want to find the McCanns guilty regardless.”
DAILY STAR front page: “MADDIE: THE £10M MOVIE – Skint parent to sell film rights”
Skint? The Find Madeleine Fund is dwindling, down to its last “£200,000”. But Gerry McCann is going back to work. He is, as the tabloids never tire to telling us, “a heart consultant”. She is a “GP”
Says the Star: “The couple – who are prime suspects – are in negotiations with the world’s biggest talent and entertainment agency IMG”
IMG – International Management Group– has produced the films Touching the Void, Assault on Waco, Seconds from Disaster, I Shouldn’t be Alive and Kevin and Perry Go Large. Naomi Campbell is on the books
Any film would be an “observational documentary following the on-going search for Madeleine,” says IMG
Pages 4 and5: “Thousands blast ‘sick’ plan”
A poll: “WOULD YOU GO AND WATCH MADDIE: THE MOVIE?” Yes? No? Or I’ve already seen tonight With Trevor McDonald, thanks?
“Ester out in crisis” – TV presenter Esther McVey has resigned her post as a director of the Find Madeleine fund
DAILY MAIL front page: “MADDIE’S PARENTS PLAN £2M FILM DEAL”
“Kate and Gerry McCann could make £2million from a film deal over the story of their daughter’s disappearance, it has been claimed”
Not £10m? Such are the perils of showbiz?
Says the paper: “So far the McCanns, both 39, have turned down offers from big-name chat shows and television dramas as they were anxious to avoid being seen as celebrities”
But we watching the parents. So why not make profit, if it will help?
“Disgraced banker Nick Leeson earned a reported £450,000 when he sold the rights to his autobiography, Rogue Trader. Offers to Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch were said to have topped £1million”
And: “But Gerry McCann was quick to deny the story”
COMMENT: “Maddie the movie: One step too far – Ever since their daughter Madeleine disappeared, Kate and Gerry McCann have ridden a wave of public sympathy. True, there are some (including the Portuguese police) who have aired deeply hurtful suspicions about the couple since that terrible evening in May. But the overwhelming public mood - particularly among parents of young children - has been one of compassion. Today, however, the McCanns risk losing much of that goodwill. Incredibly, it emerges that they are discussing a possible multi-million pound deal to turn Madeleine’s disappearance into a film. To be blunt, isn’t this pushing the boundaries of taste too far?”
But it is already the subject of a media circus. So why not a DVD – we’ve had the T-shirt, the song, the billboards and the trailers..?
ALISON PEARSON writes in her column: “What CAN Kate and Gerry be thinking? Critics who have never forgiven Gerry and Kate for leaving their kids alone in their holiday apartment will be confirmed in their view that the couple have truly terrible judgment. They will be accused of bad taste; of lacking respect for Madeleine’s memory. Kate will be charged with wanting to swan down the red carpet, even though in this case it is sorrow, not vanity, that has reduced her to a Hollywood Size Zero”
How did it become a story about Kate McCann’s looks?
DAILY MIRROR front page: “Maddy THE Movie”
The McCanns also met with ITV about making a documentary. Maddy A Movie…
THE SUN front page: “Maddie hunt ‘to be film’”
Page 9: “ They pary that movie will help find Maddie”
Gerry McCann is a “cardiac specialist”. The McCanns are “doctors”
“IS THIS THE RIGHT DECISION?”
“YES,” says Lorraine Kelly, GMTV presenter.
“NO,” says the Sun’s Jon ‘Guanty’ Gaunt - “I guess the title of the McCann’s proposed film has to be Home Alone”. Or not…
THE GUARDIAN: “McCanns deny reports of Madeleine film”
Writes Gerry McCann on his blog: “We can categorically deny that we are considering a movie about Madeleine’s disappearance. This is simply untrue. We are approached by a huge number of media outlets regarding a myriad of projects, only a tiny proportion of which we agree to. Each proposal is considered on whether it is likely to have a positive effect, either directly or indirectly, on the search for Madeleine”
ON the Guardian website: “Madeleine’s parents consider film - The parents of Madeleine McCann are considering giving the go-ahead to a film about their missing daughter following an approach by a major entertainment firm”
THE TIMES page 3: “Parents may turn Madeleine McCann story into a Hollywood movie”
“On-screen child horror stories:
A Cry In The Dark
Gone Baby Gone
Honour Thy Father And Mother: the True story of the Menendez Brothers
Menenedez: A Killing in Beverly Hills, 1994
The Amityville Horror series
Everybody’s Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure”
Says Clarence Mitchell: The media are making money out of the situation themselves and we feel it is only fair and right that some aspect of that should come to the fund to help find Madeleine”
DAILY TELGRAPH: “McCanns in talks to make a film about AMdldine’s disappearance”
“Do you think a Madeleine film should be made”
Well, we;’ve had the sop opera, and who wants to watch EastEnders: The Movie?
THE SCOTSMAN: “McCanns eye Madeleine film”
BOSTON HERALD: “Missing Madeleine story could become feature film”
The speculation, media hype and sensation so far
January 9th, 2008 at 8:13 am
1st?
January 9th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Dial M…
January 9th, 2008 at 8:18 am
3rd?
January 9th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Who saw Fiona on gmtv this mornings faux paux?
Christopher Biggins said he was in favour of smacking and asked her and Ben Sheppard whether they were smacked as kids……..
Fiona replied
” Me? I was murdered!!!”
PMSL
January 9th, 2008 at 8:20 am
If I post now at position 3 it will probably appear 5 hours later if it appears at all.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Whos ever paid to see a frigging documentary??
January 9th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Thought change was afoot this morning when GMTV ran a piece on this today………..but NO another Clarence smokescreen and no mention of the blood in the car either!
January 9th, 2008 at 8:24 am
How come the funds run out of dosh?
The spend appears to be:
Met 3 £300k
Ad camapaign £80k
Mortgage £4k
Total £384k
Total quoted fund £1200k
Where’s the rest of it gone?
Comical Clarry paid by millionaire. World’s most expensive lawyers paid by other millionaires. Flights paid by other millionaires, apart from easy jet chicken run - probable cost £200 including taxes
January 9th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Good morning! So the 1 million deal is now woth 10 million! Are prisoners still allowed to profit from their crimes?
January 9th, 2008 at 8:38 am
6
naddo
How come the funds run out of dosh?
-New tennis bag.
-Cost of witness statements IMO
-Haircuts
-Botox
-New wallet
January 9th, 2008 at 8:39 am
It was obvious they were going to say they weren’t doing a film by yesterdays comments backlash. Why the mainstream public would be outraged by a film and not by the McCanns bizarre comments and attitude on the panorama documentary - I don’t know?
January 9th, 2008 at 8:39 am
6 naddo says (January 9th, 2008 at 8:24 am):
How come the funds run out of dosh?
The spend appears to be:
Metodo 3 - £300k
Ad camapaign - £80k
Mortgage - £4k
Total - £384k
Total quoted fund - £1,200k
Where’s the rest of it gone?
REPLY: Well, here are some possibilities:
1. Control Risks group - £250,000? £1 million? Remember this from 24 September? -
“KATE and Gerry McCann have hired a crack team of ex-SAS soldiers to help find their missing daughter. The couple are convinced four-year-old Madeleine is still alive.
Now one of the world’s top private security firms have been called in to track her down.
Friends said the McCanns decided to hire Control Risks Group to “do the work that the Portuguese have failed to do”. The firm were launched 30 years ago by ex-SAS officers and former MI5 and MI6 agents. They charge ****thousands of pounds a day**** and specialise in finding kidnap victims”.
P.S. 200 days of Control Risks Group at say £5,000 a day = £1 million
2. Travel expenses of Gerry and Kate McCann
3. Travel expenses of Esther McVey and the five other Trustees
4. Other expenses of Gerry and Kate McCann
5. Other expenses of Esther McVey and five other Trustees
6. ‘Consultants’ - McCanns said back in September that they were using ‘consultants’ on ‘various matters’.
Very little of the detail will be shown, if and when the accounts of the Find Madeleine Fund private compnay are ever published. I expect hundreds of thousands of pounds of expenditure to be listed under vague headings like ‘consultants’ and ‘miscellaneous expenses’.
As, seemingly, with almost everything else associated with this couple, the real truth about the fund’s income will be hidden and the subject of carefully-released half-truths.
A copy of the Fund’s bank account statements would be very revealing…
January 9th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Morning Brandon
Are you feeling better?
January 9th, 2008 at 8:50 am
11
Karen
It doesnt look like she is feeling too good!
January 9th, 2008 at 8:53 am
SteveT
I suppose the McCann saga - and watching Fiona Philips in the morning - is more than enough to make anyone feel sick.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Has Garth lost it ,last night post 980 “we’ve yet to play out trump card” .Alway’s thought the boy was stupid he just proved it.Is he Gerry!!!!! .Just a thought.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Karen,
You’re not wrong!
January 9th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Good Morning, New Hampshire!
January 9th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Fiona did not make a faux pas this morning on GMTV!
She made a Freudian slip! The word came out from some subliminal thoughts she has been having a lot of lately. She is seen as a voice of the nation and appears to be the first person on live TV to say what a lot of people are thinking - including the poorPJ.
From a Jungian point of view - did she pick up the Collective Unconscious thoughts of the rest of humanity?
This will sink in subliminally
I remember watching Fiona a few months ago when she held her eye gaze to the screen on which Philomena was being beamed to us all - live from Scotland and she said, ‘I think you know how I feel ….’ It was said in such a way as to say - ‘I’m on your side for now - but I am being gradually swayed in the opposite direction - So shut your greedy trap or else I’m switching allegiance.’
January 9th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Anorak has not done justice to Alison Pearson’s drivel in the Daily Mail today. She is not in a good mood.
She has a go at “the ghouls who have lapped up every blood-stained lie put out by the Portuguese police. These are the people who creepily seem to relish the torment of the Leicestershire doctors and accuse them of being everything from child-murderers to fame-obsessed money-grubbers”.
Creepily! Who are these people, dear fellow posters?
She then reassures her millions of readers that “there is still not a shred of evidence linking her parents to her death. Two in-depth media investigations, one by the BBC, turned up nothing fresh except Kate and Gerry’s anguish. In fact, testimony over the past fortnight from witnesses who saw suspicious men hanging around the McCann apartment in Praia da Luz has given new weight to the theory that the poor family was stalked”.
In fact! And one was by the BBC. Blimey!
“Metodo 3 is given to bullish boasting, which I fear owes more to testosterone than tests”. Not DNA tests, however. This is merely a limp attempt at a pun.
So, in summary: Men! Dontcha hate them!?!?
Metodo 3 have “failed to turn up a single concrete lead”. A terrific metaphor. A concrete lead will just make your dog tired. Is our dear Alison dog-tired herself? She is doggedly clinging to her line…
January 9th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Nothing on the fund directors? Has Esther definitely resigned?
January 9th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Oh well, I posted about 3 months ago and said that G&M would come out of this as multi millionaire celebs - it would be the crowning moment, and hopefully the tipping point of the media’s celebritry obsession. Hopefully everyone from Fiona Phillips to Kerry Katona will be washed into obscurity.
And yes, the film rumour is probably to push back the blood-in-car and further interviews stories. It might be a bit of an own goal though methinks.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Coco
I think you’re right.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:06 am
18 Stickler
…and of course she overlooks that there is not a shred of evidence to back up an abduction theory either
January 9th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Should they agree to making the movie, link to voting site.
Please vote.
http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=1&articleaction=displayPoll&pollid=1184&pollpos=1
January 9th, 2008 at 9:09 am
13
Karen Says:
January 9th, 2008 at 8:53 am
SteveT
I suppose the McCann saga - and watching Fiona Philips in the morning - is more than enough to make anyone feel sick
==========================================================
Well said Karen. I was watching her (FP) and i nearly spilled my Spanish breakfast looking for the gadget to change channels. Lorraine Kelly another pain..(and that nauseating accent).
There isn’t a fecking tv channel or newspaper that will openly admit that the Mcc are a total bloody disgrace (well not here anyway). What the feck is going on, it’s a holy disgrace so it is.
It leaves you lost for words ey. Not that our words would matter much anyway, i’ve posted many on different forums only to have them deleted.
Wish there was a gadget you could point at the Mccc, click the delete jobby,,,,and whooooooosh they have disappeared, gone. They have their fingers firmly placed on the escape button i’d say. Ba@tards.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Stickler
I was moaning about Allison Pearson on the previous thread.
She’s just a really crap journalist though, and not worth worrying about. She’s the woman who thinks she saw Kate McCann howling like a wounded animal on Spanish T.V.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:10 am
8
SteveT Says:
-New tennis bag.
-Cost of witness statements IMO
-Haircuts
-Botox
-New wallet
——————
- washing powder for Cuddle Cat
January 9th, 2008 at 9:14 am
James
I want them to make the movie - so at least they’ll get slagged off in the press for something - even if it isn’t leaving the doors unlocked, not looking properly for Madeleine and using P.R. to deflect bad publicity.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Hi Karen ( much better thanks, good advice from Ade!)
Hi Everyone
Will this madness end???!!!