Bagging on the Butler

Director Lee Daniels has been working hard to introduce us to The Butler, but now it seems he might not quite get to do that the way he intended.

See, Warner Bros. recently took The Weinstein Company to legal task for not clearing the title of Daniels’ new film – about Cecil Gaines (played by Forest Whitaker), a man who worked at the White House for more than four decades – with the Motion Picture Association of America’s Title Registration Bureau, right. Evidently, the folks at Warner didn’t appreciate the title clash between this year’s awards bait-y ensemble and their 1916 silent short.

Aw, c’mon. We all know Oprah – who co-stars in the Daniels project – is a mighty woman, but even she is not that powerful that she could have traveled in time to or from now and appeared in both films. I think the difference was pretty well established.

Alas, those Hollywood peeps don’t look to me (or common sense) to help solve some of their simplest problems, and an arbitration on the matter has concluded that Harvey Weinstein & Co. are SOL and must change their film’s title before they release it on Aug. 16.

Questions abound. Will they do as they’re told? Or delay and retitle?

Mmm...I guess those two are really the two Qs that really matter.

Other than: Is the 1916 Butler up on the iTunes already? ’Cause I’m curious now.

Photo: Crushable.com.