UPDATE 3/13, 1:50 PM: The X account for “Origin” has been deleted as of midday Wednesday. The original version of the story continues below:
Whoever runs the X account for Ava DuVernay’s 2023 film “Origin” advanced the conflict with distributor Neon by calling the company out on Monday for not inviting her and other filmmakers on its roster to its Oscar party Sunday night.
“Is it odd that the filmmakers of Neon’s current film in theaters weren’t invited to this Neon celebration? Nope. Standard operating procedure for [Neon CEO founder Tom] Quinn and team. That’s how Neon rolls,” read the tweet.
It was a re-tweet of a post by Tomris Laffly, who shared a photo from Neon’s Oscars party of the Best Original Screenplay statuette won by “Anatomy of a Fall” director Justin Triet Sunday night.
In January, DuVernay told the Associated Press that the marketing for “Origin” was “disappointing,” adding “that’s a mechanism of our distributors’ limited budget and strategy in the way that it’s been rolled out.”
She credited Array, the independent distribution company she founded in 2011, as well as the cast of the film, who helped promote the movie. “When people do see it, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, overwhelmingly connected,” said DuVernay, who made similar comments that the film had “no advertising or promotion outside of theaters” beyond her and Array’s promotional work in an Instagram post last month.
The “Origin” X account has been calling out Neon all awards season: On Feb. 27, they shared a screenshot of a Showbiz 411 article that said Neon “put all its eggs in the ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ basket,” to the detriment of its other contenders.
“Neon Pictures has already snuffed out Ava Duvernay’s ‘Origin’ and Michael Mann’s Ferrari,” columnist Roger Friedman wrote. He also noted that he hadn’t gotten a press release about Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” which received an Oscar nomination for Best International Film.
The same account has also re-shared tweets about Neon’s “erratic distribution” and “mishandling” of the 2019 Alfre Woodard-led movie “Clemency,” as well as the 2022 lawsuit filed by “Amazing Grace” producer Alan Elliott, who accused the company of “Hollywood accounting” and “kneecapping” the Aretha Franklin concert film to avoid paying bonuses.
At the time, Neon, “We are extremely proud of the campaign and release we’ve forged for ‘Amazing Grace,’” and dismissed the Elliott’s allegations as “meritless and baseless.”
Neon declined to comment on this story. TheWrap has also reached out to DuVernay.
Variety first reported this story.
