When Epic Games launched its manufactured crusade against Apple over App Store developer fees, the Fortnite-makers created a shot-for-shot parody of the famous “1984” Apple Super Bowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott.
“1984” introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer. It was conceived by Chiat/Day’s Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas and Lee Clow, produced by New York production company Fairbanks Films, and directed by Ridley Scott. Anya Major performed as the spot’s heroine and David Graham portrayed “Big Brother.” The spot’s only broadcast was on January 22, 1984 during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. Chiat/Day also ran the ad one other time, in December 1983 right before the 1:00 am sign-off on KMVT in Twin Falls, Idaho, so that the advertisement could be submitted to award ceremonies for that year.
IGN spoke with Scott about Epic’s homage in a recent interview.
IGN asked Scott, director of critically acclaimed films like Alien, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down, if he has seen the Epic remake of his famous Apple “1984” commercial.
“I sure have and I wrote to them because on the one hand I can be fully complimented by the fact they copied [my commercial] shot for shot,” Scott says. “But pity the message is so ordinary when they could have been talking about democracy or more powerful things… And they didn’t use it.”
Scott added, “I think the animation was terrific, the idea was terrific, the message was ‘ehh’.”
MacDailyNews Take: Regardless of uninspired, derivative videos, the bottom line is clear: Epic Games wants all of the benefits afforded to it by Apple’s App Store for free.
Here’s the real deal:
Who’s Ridley Scott? Oops, sorry, I mean… who cares?
Ridley Scott is the director of Apple’s 1984 commercial, and also the Academy Award nominated director of fils like Alien, Thelma & Louise, and Blade Runner. I like his work. 🙂
Good for you!
I like eggs.
And what the heck have you done with your miserable life applecynic other than pick your nose and flick it at others actually accomplishing things repeatedly?
I don’t like Applecynic.
I can’t be all bad, I don’t like Trump and he’s much more important than Ridley Scott though they both have cult imagery.
Apple is a far worse Big Brother than IBM and MS have ever been combined.
None of your business. The article isn’t about me.
I thought so. Nothing that would require you to stick your neck out beyond a banal existence to get criticized by idiots for.
@Fesarius
My criticism is on jokers like you and your cult imagery.
Right up to Prometheus and the Alien crap sequel. Terrible movies. OK didn’t watchAlien to be fair because Prometheus was such hot garbage.
It’s not something anyone could “recreate” without looking like a anemic derivative.
One of the best examples of “less is more” of all time.
A tour de force.
MDN/SteveJack/Firstwhatever are all about name dropping. Opinions that they agree with are all that matters. They disregard the reality that, yes, Apple is now the big ugly political gorilla today, and it squeezes smaller players just like any other fat rich corporations have.
In other words, truth hurts. So it is very important to find the opinion of a filmmaker to counteract the truth!!!!!!
I think Apple needs to seriously overhaul the App Store rules. The current system is bad for developers, users, and–in the long term_Apple.
It’s full of a lot of garbage, and yet also makes it impossible for developers to create some really useful stuff.
I don’t think Epic is a hero in this, though.
One has to admit that with iOS, Apple acts exactly like the Big Brother they parodied in the superbowl ad.
The Mac, and only the Mac, is the only Apple platform that offers both user control and good software developer options. As Apple continues to dumb down the Mac to be more like iOS, Apple continues to evolve to be the evil control freak that everyone hated in 1984.
The fanboys here should admit as much when they keep cheering for Apple to become richer, bigger, less user focused, and more political with every passing day.
Actually what they want is the ability to make their own App Stores on both Apple and Google’s platforms.