"Promised Land" Continues to Serve as Lightning Rod for Controversy as Damon Admits Anti-Fracking Mission

The upcoming release of Promised Land, a feature film co-written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski, has served to increase the buzz and controversy that has been swirling around the movie for months.

In the past the attacks on Promised Land have been highlighted by blogger Mike Knapp's accusation that the producers lied to people where the on-location filming took place by saying the movie was not about fracking, revelations that the film was funded in part by an oil-rich Arab nation, and leaking of the script by the producers of FrackNation, who many may conclude are attempting to cash in on the publicity surrounding a major motion picture to draw attention to their documentary in addition to furthering their own views on fracking.

Meanwhile, the film has been talked up by rabid anti-drilling headliner Josh Fox without him having even seen it, and after generating Oscar buzz during some of the lead-up to release the limited number of early reviews can be described as mixed at best, with the movie currently holding a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Several new articles are floating around that deal with Promised Land.

Phelim McAleer, one of the producers of FrackNation, was back in the news last week after releasing video of him posing a confrontational question to Damon and Krasinski regarding the film's financing at a December 3 Q&A event.


Today an article is floating about which says that Apple's podcast audio of the event has deleted McAleer's question and Damon's response from the recording as if it never happened, while everything else apparently remains intact.

Meanwhile, anti-drilling website DeSmog Blog is highlighting the efforts that the oil and gas industry are making to combat any effect that the portrayal of fracking and the industry in Promised Land may have on the general public.  The article doesn't get all of its facts correct and states that
the Damon movie is not anti-fracking or a propaganda piece.
Despite that statement, Mike Knapp highlights on his blog this excerpt from an article posted by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on his Huffington Post blog:
At a screening Tuesday night, Matt [Damon] told me why the pair (Damon and Krasinski) undertook this enterprise: "Everyone knows that fracking poisons the air and water.  We wanted to show how it tears apart local communities and subverts democracies and corrupts political leaders and eviscerates all the things that Americans value."
So, there you go.  The latest rundown on Promised Land, for whatever it's worth.  Is anyone planning on going to see this one when it hits theaters?



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