MovieChat Forums > O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2001) Discussion > Did they have to pay the rights to say "...

Did they have to pay the rights to say "Based on The Odyssey by Homer"

posted 9 years ago by Theblacktionstar
12 replies | jump to latest

I'm not sure if the Odyssey is pubic domain or not since its so old, but just theoretically, using that title in the beginning of your film would require for you to buy rights, am I correct? None of the characters in the film share names with characters in the book and its only loosely based on the story. However, "City of Industry" starring Harvey Keitel is very very close to the novel "The Seventh" by Richard Stark (Either that or a different Stark novel, I forget), though it doesn't use similar character names, the plot is very similar but the main character is somewhat different. I'm just curious how something like that would generally work, the film I'm writing is also based on a novel but I don't use the same names and would like to avoid paying 1 million $ for rights haha

[–] geearf 9 years ago

I'm sure by now any of Homer's work is in the public domain, but even if it wasn't, it'd be hard to find the rightful heir for the pay anyway...

I found more information on that in this site:
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/okbooks.html

[–] TheGuyWithTheFeet 9 years ago

I don't think that Homer's estate is coming after them.

Actually all works made before 1923 are in the public domain.

[–] mechafi 9 years ago

It is not even known if there ever was a man called Hómēros who wrote all the stuff attributed to him. Just like it is improbable that there really was someone called Sōkrátēs outside of Plátōn's writings. Or if plays attributed to William Shakespeare were really written by a man called William Shakespeare, who did exist but might not have written a single play in his life?

[–] acaciajules 8 years ago

You know there is more known about William Shakespeare and his life than any other writer of the time, yet he's the only writer that people question as to whether he wrote his own works. Most arguments against his being the real writer, are classest, and founded upon the belief that a man of his station (which was actually middle class, with his father having been able to pay for him to have schooling) instead of UPPER CLASS/titled.

Chase: Wow. Yeah, I get it. House is adorable. I just want to hold him and never let go.

[–] drunkbear 9 years ago

I don't think you have to pay for the rights to any story by an author that's been dead for over a thousand years.

"You may have come on no bicycle, but that does not say that you know everything."

[–] pontius2000 9 years ago

No. Homer's work is abut 500-1000+ years old. "Public domain" goes back to about 100 years old. There wuld be no plaintiffs to Hmerswork

[–] GreyHunter 9 years ago

abut 500-1000+ years old

While the "1000+" covers the age, the "500-" isn't really necessary. The Odyssey predates the Roman Empire. It's over 2500+ years old. Hell, it predates Greece as a country (back then, it was city-states that had only a loose cultural connection, not a governmental one, and generally worked closely together against outsiders like the Persians and, well, the Trojans, as in the Iliad. They tended to fight amongst themselves as readily as they did against outsider.)

[–] ATG6 (3000) 5 years ago

Copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 50 years (worldwide), and longer in some countries (life of the author plus 70 years in the US). Homer's been gone a lot longer than that.

[–] ATG6 (3000) 3 years ago

They did throw Homer Stokes in to honor the original author though. Maybe not the best choice to be honored with though.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

No, they wouldn't have to pay any rights to use an ancient story.

Now if the movie had been based on a modern novel that retold the original story, that would be a completely different matter... kind of like how Disney's movie "The Sword in the Stone" was an adaptation of a T.H. White novel, instead of the medieval Arthurian stories.

[–] clashwho (758) a year ago

Homer's great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great granddaughter is making BANK on that film.

[–] Freddy (1325) a year ago

have you not watched other Coen Brothers Movies they all have statements at begining