May 9 - Anti-SLAPP Rulings Revealed and Why Marilyn Manson Has a Strong Case for an Appeal Anti-SLAPP laws work by putting more burden than usual on defamed plaintiffs like Manson, forcing them to clearly show at the outset that their case is legitimate. In California, the reason strict anti-SLAPP laws exist is because they have so many cases to go through, and it helps to alleviate the pressure of the courts by making cases less time consuming by eliminating certain aspects of a claim before they go to discovery. The major drawback of this is that a plaintiff must enter the case with all their evidence in hand when it comes to defamation claims even before discovery can be conducted. Thus, it makes it almost impossible for a defamation claim to pass into the discovery portion of the case unless the unquestionable evidence already clearly exists. In some cases, like Manson's, the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim can also be part of the anti-SLAPP. Summary of the
1. The song "If I Was Your Vampire" inspired Manson to write a scene for a film the day he finished it, which would feature Evan Rachel Wood and be based on the themes of Eat Me, Drink Me. When he was asked about what the film would be about in an interview with Rock Mag in May 2007, he said:
"It’s about the love between me and her, just like the song. It’s a lot like Bonnie and Clyde and True Romance. I drive a car over a cliff and it rains blood."
This scene was eventually reworked and incorporated into different scenes in the 'Heart-Shaped Glasses' video.
"It’s about the love between me and her, just like the song. It’s a lot like Bonnie and Clyde and True Romance. I drive a car over a cliff and it rains blood."
This scene was eventually reworked and incorporated into different scenes in the 'Heart-Shaped Glasses' video.
2. Marilyn Manson was still legally married to Dita Von Teese during the making of 'Heart-Shaped Glasses'. In an interview with the Toronto Star on May 13, 2007, Dita was asked if she was divorced yet from Manson, to which she replied:
"Not at all. (Laughs) We're officially still married."
After this she replied the following when asked if she saw the 'Heart-Shaped Glasses' video:
"I have not seen it. I know a lot of people are shocked by it and think I should be shocked but he has put every one of his girlfriends in his videos so it doesn't come as any surprise to me. I was in three videos. Rose McGowan was in two videos."
The official divorce date of Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese was December 27, 2007.
3. The sex scene in the 'Heart-Shaped Glasses' video (it can be seen in full in the extended version of the video), which has generated a lot of controversy, seems to have been influenced by what Marilyn Manson has called his "favorite romantic movie" - Wild at Heart. During the sex scene of the video, the music from the song 'Evidence' is being played in the background, before it cuts to the music for 'Heart-Shaped Glasses'. In the graphic sex scene from Wild at Heart, not only is the camera editing similar, but two different songs are played as well. There is also a similar chemistry and passion displayed in both the video and the film.
Warning: Graphic Sex Scene (video comes from an adult website and may have an adult ad)
4. The original title for the song 'Heart-Shaped Glasses' was 'When the Heart Guides the Hand', but the latter was later replaced with the former and put in parenthesis. It seems this title was also inspired by Wild at Heart, when after the graphic sex scene, Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) guides Lula Fortune's (Laura Dern) hand over his heart. Also note that Wild at Heart has the word "Heart" in its title.
5. Another graphic and controversial sex scene in a film seems to have inspired the intimate scene of Manson and Evan in bed as blood begins to pour down on them. This film is Angel Heart, which is another Manson favorite. During the explicit sex scene in Angel Heart, blood begins raining down on them.
Mickey Rourke was 33 in Angel Heart when he played the character Harry Angel, while Lisa Bonet as Epiphany Proudfoot was 19, though in the movie she is supposed to be 17. Manson was 38 in the video, and Evan was 19. Angel Heart has the word "Heart" in its title also.
Mickey Rourke was 33 in Angel Heart when he played the character Harry Angel, while Lisa Bonet as Epiphany Proudfoot was 19, though in the movie she is supposed to be 17. Manson was 38 in the video, and Evan was 19. Angel Heart has the word "Heart" in its title also.
Warning: Graphic Sex Scene (video comes from an adult website and may have an adult ad)
6. In literature and folklore, when rain looks like blood (yes, it is a real, though rare, geological phenomenon) it is considered a bad omen predicting bad events.
7. Since the idea of the scene with raining blood came to Manson through the vampire theme of his album Eat Me, Drink Me, perhaps the film Bram Stoker's Dracula also had an influence. Early in the film, when Dracula returns home from battle, he finds that the woman he loved killed herself after she was given the false report that he had been killed. With her body lying in a church, he curses God and blood profusely begins to pour out of a crucifix, which he consumes and becomes an immortal vampire.
8. In the documentary Phoenix Rising, Evan Rachel Wood claimed for the first time she was drugged and "essentially raped" while filming the sex scene in 'Heart-Shaped Glasses'. Evan initially considered her work on the video among her proudest work till that time, and spoke positively of the experience, even claiming it to be very romantic, and she would deny reports from that time where the rumor spread that it was a real sex scene. Manson took another approach and allowed the viewer to interpret for themselves if the sex in the video was real or not, thereby never saying whether it was either real or simulated. Because the media continued to speculate on the matter, a rep for Manson issued a simple one sentence response to the media to give the final word on the matter and end the speculation:
"It was simulated sex."
After Evan's allegations in Phoenix Rising, Manson's attorney Howard J. King released the following press release to once again clarify the matter: