Goats -- The Silence Grows Louder By The Day

For at least a month before the recent release of The Men who Stare at Goats, George Clooney and Grant Heslov's movie was promoted with taglines like 'inspired by a top secret true story' and 'a story so unbelievable it has to be true'. Even in the film's opening sequence there is the seductive line 'More of this is true than you would believe'. It is hardly surprising then that previewers, reviewers, and critics alike also joined in with phrases like 'the real life true story' or 'based on a true story'.

It has been 12 days now since I was given the opportunity to publicly question why my central role in unearthing this remarkable true story was completely erased. In this time however, there has been no word at all from anyone involved in the movie and the silence grows louder by the day.

There has, on the other hand, been a tremendous outpouring of private support, and in public comments. Thanks especially are due to Human 23 for articulating the position so eloquently, and to others of the real Goat men who have also been in touch in the meantime. They particularly have reminded me how much more there is to be told than that revealed in what is otherwise an entertaining movie, and how much that could contribute to our understanding of the wars of this past decade.

Copies of my letter to Mr. Clooney - close in substance to the Post post linked above - were first distributed to key figures in the production (including BBC Films executives) in the second week of October 2009, and again in the first week of November.

Though there is evidence that several were received, it's quite possible that Mr. Clooney himself was not informed of the situation until the day of the Post's publication.

As mentioned before, I have no issue with the creatives on the movie, but in the absence of any other response, and in the context of a story about unearthing a truth that is based on relationships of trust and integrity, I and many others believe it's perfectly reasonable to once more appeal to George Clooney, as both star and producer, for some form of adjudication - even if that comes privately.

 

Comments

[murray johnson]

04:57 AM on 12/03/2009

ndem. David Morehouse's book 'Psychic Warrior' was a book focusing specifically on the US Military's attempts to make use of Remote Viewing. In the original documentary that this film derives from, it is evident that RV is but one small part of a panoply of strange and esoteric practices explored and applied by the 'warrior monks' of the first earth batallion. Without denigrating Morehouse's book in any way, there is far more to this particular story than just the remote viewing aspect.

[sirsmackalot]

12:14 AM on 12/03/2009

Given the context and the way most documentaries are produced - and, as a previous post alluded to - the staunch support of investigative journalism by Mr. Clooney, this is a matter that has to be addressed by Ronson and the parties involved in the genesis and development of this project. Nothing less should be acceptable. Sure, excuses and legalese nonsense can be thrown about "parallel development" and such but that is the talk of slippery Hollywood development - something that one would hope Clooney - and by association Ronsen, rises above. Sure, Clooney is not culpable but Ronsen is. And given the central place that British documentary holds in the world of nonfiction this represents an issue that has been bubbling under the surface for quite some time. Here's to hoping that this imbroglio finally brings these issues to the forefront. Any self-respecting nonfiction filmmaker, or fan of documentaries, should take this to heart and, for the sake of god or whomever, take a stand!

[ndem]

03:25 PM on 12/02/2009

This journalist did not unearth the story, I read a book about it in the Uk in 1997 called, "Psychic Warrior" by David Morehouse, published in the UK...

[Clare Donnelly]

12:46 PM on 12/02/2009

What seems most egregious about this is that no one from the film has taken a stance to honor or state anything about the efforts of Mr. Sergeant. If you read the recent articles about this, it is clear that were it not for Mr. Sergeant, many of the interviews would never have taken place. So many people do not speak up for themselves. I applaud Mr. Sergeant for making this information known, against the machine of the film industry. Good luck to him.

[dylan haughton]

12:05 PM on 12/02/2009

Cut to the beach scene..... ...I can vouch for John being there, I was living in Mexico, he was having a week off filming and we arranged to meet in a place called Chacahua; if you can find it on the map, have a go at getting there on public transport, its a challenge. We rented a dug out canoe to explore the lagoon and look for the small but fierce local crocodiles, it was going well until we got caught in a huge tidal race, the canoe got stuck against a tree, sucked under and we were washed about swimming for it. The local fishermen rescued us and in the evening John told us about the goats over beers and fish quesadillas. He was concerned about "the authorities", given the sensitive nature of his research. I guess its all out in the open now with the film but at the time, it wasn't and he deserves the credit for this risky bit of journalism.....

[Fudgefase]

06:37 AM on 12/02/2009

Get the goat men to work their magic....

[Daisy Mctavish]

05:47 AM on 12/02/2009

It seems to me that the poiints which John Sergeant makes are entirely clear. As I understand it, this whole story was unearthed by him and pitched to the TV company which made the original documentary and he produced that documentary. Jon Ronson then wrote the bok, drawing upon (and acknowledging) Sergeant's input, but Sereant has now been, as he says, airbrushed out.

[John Sergeant]

10:32 AM on 12/02/2009

Just to be clear Daisy. At the end of 2002, I was brought in as a Producer on a Channel 4 UK documentary series which would come to be called Crazy Rulers of the World, which arose out of a previous 5 part series JR and I did together called Secret Rulers of the World. As I describe in my previous post (linked in this one), our mission to begin with was quite amorphous - to explore the stranger corners of the Bush dynasty. Only about 6 or 7months in, did we start seriously focussing on the Men who stare at Goats per se, and that story went on and defined the subsequent documentary series which was broadcast about autumn 2004.

[murray johnson]

05:40 AM on 12/02/2009

The film is based on a book by Jon Ronson which in turn was largely derived from research undertaken by Sergeant. It does seem harsh that what has become a multi million dollar venture has failed to properly acknowledge the provenance of its source material. It's apparent that Ronson lacks the decency to share the credit for his contribution but, given Clooney's previous enthusiastic support for the efforts of journalists, somewhat surprising that he & his partners in this project haven't made any attempt to re-dress the balance. They must now at least be aware of the controversy surrounding the source material. Perhaps keeping heads down and waiting for it to blow over is the typical modus operandi in such circumstances. Private individuals rarely have the means or stamina to successfully pursue any such grievances.

[liberalsrheros]

06:48 PM on 12/01/2009

this is starting to sound like a person axe to grind and petty. if you were cheated file a case, offer the proof, get paid. demanding personal attention from clooney is just strange.

[Clare Donnelly]

12:42 PM on 12/02/2009

It seems perfectly normal for Mr. Sergeant to appeal to George Clooney directly. As a producer and director, Clooney has shown enthusiastic support for the efforts of journalists, as stated above and as known throughout the industry.

[violettefemme]

05:23 PM on 12/01/2009

Is there some reason you simply don't tell us everything? I want to support you, but without knowing even what you are talking about....how can a thinking person offer their support?

[SILVANUS]

05:13 PM on 12/01/2009

Hollywood "film development" is quite byzantine and full of lawyers. Clooney does not strike me as a thief, and is one of the few "players" who makes an effort to create films that are more than just eyecandy for teen and adult mall-zombies, but there could have been a glitch in his development chain below him he did not know about. Good luck with the discovery process.

[BlackJAC]

03:13 PM on 12/01/2009

And as I said before, if you let this go to trial you're going to hear the words "parallel development" a lot, even before they invoke the thoroughly fictional story they concocted for the movie. They'll also very likely cite the character consolidations done in APOLLO 13, BLACK HAWK DOWN and PEARL HARBOR to prove originality.

[srdon]

01:59 PM on 12/01/2009

huh?

i don't get your point.

i know there is a lot more to the real story. why don't you talk about what those things are?