The state of Michigan approved a $4.9 million
subsidy for the movie company that made "The Ides of March."
But one of the actors who worked on the film
made what appeared to be a disparaging remark about the city of Detroit on Friday. Actor Paul
Giamatti compared filming a movie in Detroit to "being in prison" on ABC
television’s LIVE! With Regis and Kelly.
Giamatti was in the film, shot partly in Ann
Arbor and Detroit. It also stars George Clooney.
Following the commercial break that came after
his remark, Giamatti apologized and said he was referring to the job and not
the city. A LIVE! With Regis and Kelly employee said that Giamatti clarified
his comments and that he was not calling Detroit a prison, but instead saying
that working on the movie was like being in prison.
"If it’s a prison, it is the only prison that pays you to stay there," said James Hohman, a fiscal policy analyst for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, referring to the $4.9 million subsidy that the film received.
"The Ides of March" was expected to spend $7.7 million in the state, according to the 2010 report from the Michigan Film Office.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.