Bogus critic stars in movie company's real-life farce

By REBECCA WALSH and NZPA

An American movie company which invented a bogus movie critic to promote its films has been caught out - twice.

Columbia Pictures this week admitted that film reviewer David Manning was a fake, but in doing so it did not know that his namesake was alive and well and living in Nelson and still reviewing movies.

The real David Manning, the Nelson Mail's features editor and film reviewer, has been a movie critic since 1975.

This week, he received a phone call from a friend asking if he really existed.

"I do find it amusing that I am having to establish my identity because of the non-existence of someone else with the same name."

The hoax, which was uncovered last week by a Newsweek reporter, has sparked an internal investigation by Sony Pictures (Columbia's parent company).

The magazine reported a Sony employee apparently dreamed up the fake person in July, using the name of a friend and attributing fictional reviews to him.

Supervisors then used the quotes in movie advertisements, including a rave review of Heath Ledger, of A Knight's Tale, as "this year's hottest new star," without questioning Manning's legitimacy.

Sony spokeswoman Susan Tick said yesterday that it was a case of "incredibly bad judgment."

She said an internal investigation was under way.

"I don't know what will happen. Until we have completed talking to everyone who is involved it would be inappropriate to speculate."

Ms Tick was not aware of any other fictitious reviewers and said they were "absolutely not" condoned by the company.

Sony Pictures, which produced Charlie's Angels, Vertical Limit and Big Daddy, was removing the fake Mr Manning's quotes from advertisements for A Knight's Tale and Animal.

The Mail's American-born Mr Manning, who has written more than 2000 reviews, said he was still in love with the movies.