Was Phil M. Noir promised the directorial reins of Cockzilla? [see story below]. AVN Publisher Paul Fishbein tried to cast some clarity on a very murky issue. Fishbein has been away on personal business for about a week, but has been aware of the brewing controversy between Noir and In-X-Cess' Alex Katz over the film Cockzilla.
According to Fishbein, Noir, a friend of Fishbein's, ran the idea of Cockzilla by him in the time frame to support the contention that Cockzilla was, originally, Noir's idea. Fishbein was also a witness at CES 1998, in which Katz made the public statement that Noir was going to be the director of the project.
Fishbein: "As sure as I'm living and breathing, I was standing there with Phil M. Noir and Alex Katz at CES 1998, when Phil saw the Cockzilla monster, and Alex said to Phil, ‘Don't worry, you're still my guy; you're still directing this film.' It's as clear as the sun is out today. I know that Alex is going to say that I'm siding with Phil because Phil is my closest friend. But I've never found Alex to be anything but an upstanding businessman. I'm not trying to say that Alex stole the idea and shut Phil out. I'm not trying to make any sort of accusations because I wasn't in on the meetings. I know for a fact that Phil told me about the Cockzilla idea and asked me if I thought that Alex Katz would be interested in it. I said that, considering the type of marketing that Alex was doing, he was the very guy that should do a movie like this. Then I know for a fact that Phil went and took the idea to Alex. Alex told me, more recently, that he [Katz] was sitting in his kitchen and that it came to him in some vision. I even told Alex at that point that I clearly remember that Phil had come up with the idea. And I remember him telling me that he went to see Alex and Alex was juiced about the idea and that he had given Alex drawings. And, in fact, at one point, Alex lost the drawings, and he [Noir] had to re-send them to him. So, I don't know what happened. I know that when Alex went to make this movie in Europe, I said to him, ‘I hope Phil M. Noir is directing this.' And Alex said, ‘I can't; it's too expensive.' I said to Alex you better call him [Noir] and let him know this. He thinks he's doing this project for you. And, all along, I've been saying Alex would never switch directors on you, it's your deal. [Frank Thring wound up directing the film.] And I guess Alex never called Phil, and the next thing you know he made the movie. I'm not sure what's in Alex' head, and I'm not sure that this is not just a total miscommunication between the two of them. Alex is a customer, and I'm certainly not going against him. I'm not a judge and a jury. I'm just telling you that I knew that Phil had that idea and that I knew that I was standing there when Alex told him that he was making the movie. If I'm Alex, I think he loses this. There's more than one witness to this. Intellectual ideas, a lot of times, when they go to court...he's {Katz} going to lose. There's precedent. If I'm Alex, I make a conciliatory deal with Noir to make another big movie. Both of these guys are going to piss money away in court because things like this cost a lot of money to battle. But this is just my recollection."
Noir has this to say regarding Katz' comments about him being a "golddigger" and "opportunist."
Noir: "I want to be very clear about this. This is not a money issue that I really care about. Alex never paid me as well as Vivid or even Gabor for that matter. If we go to court over this, any money I receive from this will go to the Free Speech Coalition. I do not care about not having the opportunity to make the movie. It is a question of intellectual theft of which he has no concept. And the fact that he can lie to someone repeatedly over and over again after witnesses have heard to the contrary, it's not a money issue. I do not want a penny from this. It's an intellectual theft issue."
