"The last head on the left is George Bush," the creators said. "George Bush's head appears in a couple of beheading scenes. It's not a choice, it's not a political statement. We just had to use whatever heads we had lying around."Benioff and Weiss have since apologized, saying they regret pointing out the former president's brief appearance. "We use a lot of prosthetic body parts on the show: heads, arms, etc. We can't afford to have these all made from scratch, especially in scenes where we need a lot of them, so we rent them in bulk. After the scene was already shot, someone pointed out that one of the heads looked like George W. Bush. ... We meant no disrespect to the former President and apologize if anything we said or did suggested otherwise."
HBO released an apology as well. "We were deeply displayed to see this and find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste," the statement read. "We made this clear to the executive producers of the series who apologized immediately for this inadvertent careless mistake. We are sorry this happened and will have it removed from any future DVD production."
HBO also said the shot would be removed from all future versions of the DVD.
Source: TV Guide
Ha! Yes i read about this this morning,really not sure what to believe,and really i got a kick out of it,i doubt it was intentional...There are worse things in the world to get upset over.
ReplyDeleteis this the only pic? how can you recognize him with long hair from the side?
ReplyDeleteI don't get why there's any need for an apology, let alone having the shot removed on DVD :s
ReplyDeleteYes.so far it is. Just picture the head w/o the hair,its a dead ringer.
ReplyDeleteI agree,they are making more out of it then needs to be.They apologized,that's enough! If anything give them a slap on the hand and make them promise they won't do it again,geez!
ReplyDeletehahaha
ReplyDeleteThis whole situation is ridiculous. It is obvious that it wasn't done on purpose and they just used a head from the prop department. It is not cheap to make prop heads, so they wouldn't spend their money to make George Bush's head just to put it in the background facing sideways and with long hair. It is apparent that they used what they had already.
ReplyDeleteI barely recognize him. Lol. Really strange. Since they're making them remove it it was probably intentional. I think it's appalling that they would disrespect a President, regardless of political affiliation.
ReplyDeleteFrom their explanation, it sounds legit.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, who noticed in the first place? I certainly didn't. Last think I would think about doing is freeze framing on a severed head. That's kind of sick in and of itself!
ReplyDeleteAs for apologising for it, I guess they felt they had to....
Oh my gosh, I didn't even notice that haha... I definitely get the apology, though. It could be viewed as a statement, which could result in some angry fans (as well as any non-watching citizens that may have found out), even if I doubt it was intentional.
ReplyDeleteI had a good discussion about this before I went to bed... XD
ReplyDeleteFor me personally, D&D screwed up when they mentioned it on the DVDs. Like bombs in an airport, President's (or ex-President's) heads on spikes are not fodder for casual jokes or conversations.
I have no doubt that nothing was meant by the head being included in the shots for Season 1, I just think that they handled it poorly on the DVD commentary. They dismissed it as some casual trivia for fans and should have known that it could be a potential lightning rod in a political season. Had they included the more detailed explanation from their press release last night on the original DVD commentary I think it would be a non-issue for the most part.
The real problem is that D&D or HBO let someone else get out in front of this and break the news so they could shape the news cycle. Had D&D or HBO been the ones to break the news wide it would have had a completely different tone to the story.
Of course the best thing would have been not to comment on it at all on the DVDs....
Well... I certainly didn't notice anything.
ReplyDeletefrom which season is it? if its from s1 ill buy a used dvd
ReplyDeleteIt's from season 1 finale.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry, but I laughed out loud whilst reading this. Hahahaha.
ReplyDeleteWhy does this even matter?
ReplyDeleteSean Bean laughed when his head was still being used to advertise season 2. More people should be like him :)
No need to apologise at all. Now if he was the current President it would maybe an issue but he isn't and really worse things have been said about him ha.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea they had mentioned it on the DVD Comments... they really shouldn't have said anything. Anyway, it is kind of funny to see some prop head recycling.
ReplyDeleteI don't think an apology was necessary either. People just love to make something out of nothing especially when politics are involved. This whole story is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI have not listened to all the commentaries honestly so I had not heard it either. I assume it must be in episode 1x10....
ReplyDeleteI laughed too! XD
I think it is hilarious that of all the heads or full head masks laying around they found a W head! XD
I just think it should have been a well kept inside joke and not discussed so casually like it was no big deal on the DVDs. If they had just never mentioned it I doubt anyone would have noticed EVER.
I f I were W Bush (SCARY), I would make some kind of statement on air about wanting royalties from D&D or at least a supporting actor Emmy nomination! XD
ReplyDeleteNow, excuse me....
I need to go scrub my frontal lobe with steel wool and acid after imagining myself as GW Bush.....
I suppose you could do that to your brain but I wouldn't recommend it. But hey, you're the decider.
ReplyDeletelol. Wasn't even aware of this "snafu"... it seems alot like the Janet Jackson Super Bowl "costume malfuction", more people were oblivous to anything until they had to shine a spotlight on it.
ReplyDeleteBest supported actor,hahaha!!! Me likey that one! ;)
ReplyDeleteThey probably mentioned it because even they said they weren't aware of it till after the shoot. I can only assume they were afraid of it getting out by word of mouth so instead they figured they could head off the monster that it has grown into....they..were..wrong. Letterman,Leno and all the others will be having a field day with this one!
ReplyDeleteI was going though the news when i read this this morning,i laughed so hard i spit out the coffee because i couldn't swallow it fast enough!
I would imagine they learned a lesson..keep eyes open,mouth shut!
What is the disrespect they have shown?
ReplyDeleteI would love to have been part of such a highly successful american export if I was Bush (shudders at the thought :p). Really ridiculous situation imo
ReplyDeleteHad it been intentional they wouldn't have given W a neanderthal-mullet and wouldn't have filmed the head from the side.
ReplyDeleteI just think it was a little careless.
ReplyDeleteIs there nothing else to report???
ReplyDeleteThis information about the Head D&D released months ago during the commentary as we know and why the hell did someone get the stupid idea to bring this up months after??!
And HBO is IMO reacting totally senseless to pull all the versions and release new DVDs without his head! :P
If they hadn't pointed it out, I don't think anyone would have known.
ReplyDeleteI think it was because the negative thought was put out there and nobody wants to be a part of any suggestion that shows such a disrespect to any president. They now just want it to disappear.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is I don't see how it's a negative thought?
ReplyDelete