China Adds Postscript to ‘Minions’ Showing Crime Doesn’t Pay

A woman wearing face mask walks by variety of Universal animation movie Minions toy figures on display for sale at the Chinese toy maker POP Mart store in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. (AP)
A woman wearing face mask walks by variety of Universal animation movie Minions toy figures on display for sale at the Chinese toy maker POP Mart store in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. (AP)
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China Adds Postscript to ‘Minions’ Showing Crime Doesn’t Pay

A woman wearing face mask walks by variety of Universal animation movie Minions toy figures on display for sale at the Chinese toy maker POP Mart store in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. (AP)
A woman wearing face mask walks by variety of Universal animation movie Minions toy figures on display for sale at the Chinese toy maker POP Mart store in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. (AP)

The latest “Minions” movie subtly reinforces a message for Chinese audiences that viewers in other countries won’t see: Crime doesn’t pay.

A postscript added to the version in Chinese cinemas says a villainous character, who ends the movie as a free man, is later jailed for 20 years.

Foreign films have long been targeted in China for references to subjects sensitive to the ruling Communist Party, such as Taiwan, the Dalai Lama and human rights. In recent years, China's film board appears to have expanded its purview to ensure that films deliver the right message, and not one deemed harmful.

That can be a challenge in a movie in which the central character is a villain. “Minions: The Rise of Gru” is a prequel that tells the story of the early years of Gru, the bumbling criminal plotter of the “Despicable Me” animated series.

The solution: Add individual postscripts about the characters, a series of them, interspersed with the credits at the end.

One says that Wild Knuckles, an older, mentor-like villain to the young Gru, was later bundled off to prison for 20 years because he tried to commit another crime. Before the credits, he simply drives off into a suburban horizon.

The postscript for Gru says he gives up evil, joins the good guys and, in his biggest accomplishment, is the father of three daughters.

The actual story, told in the original “Despicable Me” in 2010, is a bit more complicated. Gru adopts three orphan girls for his plot to steal the moon. But the adorable orphans, who see in him a dad, melt his icy heart.

Chinese movie bloggers pointed out the added postscripts in social media posts, drawing varying reactions. Some people said the additions were an overreaction to what is an animated comedy. Others said they demonstrated correct values, especially for kids.

“I think the ending with positive energy doesn’t have to exist at all,” said one cinema goer, Jenny Jian. “It’s totally unnecessary.”

Positive energy is a catch phrase that emerged in China about a decade ago and has been promoted by the Communist Party to push for uplifting messages from the media and the arts, according to the China Media Project, which monitors media trends.

The China Film Administration, which oversees the film board, did not respond to faxed questions. The distributors, China Film Co, and Huaxia Film Distribution Co., did not respond to emails.

China doesn't have a film rating system that assesses a movie's suitability for different audiences. Instead, authorities ask producers to delete or alter what they consider inappropriate before movies are approved for release.

“Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which has taken in 114 million yuan ($17 million) at the box since opening in China on Aug. 19, is hardly the first time Chinese authorities have altered a movie's end.

In “Peppermint,” a 2018 movie about a vigilante, the main character is handcuffed to a hospital bed. A sympathetic detective slips her a key and, in the final scene, the bed is empty with the handcuffs swinging open on its railing.

The truncated Chinese version ends with her still in bed, before she gets the key.



F1 Great Ayrton Senna’s High-Octane Life in Focus of New Netflix Series about Racing Champion

 Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone poses for photos on the red carpet for the Netflix series Senna, about the life and death of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994 in a crash, in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)
Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone poses for photos on the red carpet for the Netflix series Senna, about the life and death of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994 in a crash, in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)
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F1 Great Ayrton Senna’s High-Octane Life in Focus of New Netflix Series about Racing Champion

 Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone poses for photos on the red carpet for the Netflix series Senna, about the life and death of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994 in a crash, in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)
Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone poses for photos on the red carpet for the Netflix series Senna, about the life and death of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994 in a crash, in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)

Thirty years after his death in a high-speed crash viewed by millions around the world, Formula One champion Ayrton Senna's high-octane life is also about to play out in front of a global audience.

The legendary Brazilian driver — who was killed when his car hit a concrete wall at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 — is the subject of a six-episode Netflix series that debuts on Nov. 29 and follows him from his early go-kart days to that fatal Sunday afternoon at the Imola track in Italy.

Even three decades after that accident, few F1 figures evoke as much emotion and passion among fans and fellow drivers as Senna, who won three championship titles before his death at the age of 34.

Senna’s complex personality — he was a saint to his millions of Brazilian fans and a sinner to some critics who deemed his driving style too aggressive — comes to life through Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone, who embraced the challenge of portraying such a popular figure.

"He was much more than an F1 driver for us, he became an icon, much beyond his technique and his driving," Leone told The Associated Press in an interview in Sao Paulo. "He had this humanity, this honesty. The things he said, his values, it all made him closer to people."

Senna's life and career had no shortage of made-for-TV moments.

This was a driver who once won a race with his car stuck in sixth gear in front of thousands of raucous fans at the Interlagos track. And who went from fifth position to first in one lap at the 1993 European Grand Prix. And who jumped out of his car during a training session to save the life of a French driver who had crashed.

On the track, his rivalry with French driver Alain Prost was one of the most intense that F1 has ever seen. Off the track, he had some high-profile relationships as well and dated several models, including Elle Macpherson.

"For me as an actor, the more complex the character is, the better. It is more interesting to build him and live him. And this is quite a character, the biggest hero in Brazil, not only in sport," Leone said. "Ayrton was transcendent, he was more than an F1 driver. That’s a guy who is the hero of great drivers in history, like (Michael) Schumacher and (Lewis) Hamilton."

Senna won the drivers’ championship in 1988, 1990 and 1991 with the McLaren team and moved to Williams in the year he died as the favorite to lift the title again.

For Leone, though, it was also important to portray him as a person who understood his role as a national hero, who advocated for the poor and proudly waved a Brazilian flag from his cockpit during every victory lap.

"He was not distant, he was close," said Leone, who attended a red carpet premiere in Sao Paulo on Tuesday with several other cast members and director Vicente Amorim. "That’s for Brazilians and non-Brazilians. It was like this, and it still is like this."

To many international fans, Senna was simply an exceptional talent who was born to be a driver. Even former rival Martin Brundle, now a TV pundit, once likened Senna's ability to find grip on some corners to a dance seemingly innate to a Brazilian.

"It is a different kind of samba that I could not do," Brundle has said.

The Netflix series, however, shows some of the hard work and attention to detail that went into Senna becoming a wet-weather master.

The streaming giant — which reportedly invested more than $170 million in its production — also takes a bit of liberty with the truth when it comes to building up the animosity between Senna and one of his other real-life antagonists, Jean-Marie Balestre, the French former president of F1's governing body FIA.

Balestre is often accused by fans of aiding his countryman Prost in his rivalry with Senna, including at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix by stopping the race early before the Brazilian driver could overtake his French rival in the heavy rain. And at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, when Senna was disqualified in a decision that handed the championship title to Prost.

The Netflix series goes a step further by making Balestre (played by Arnaud Viard) the man responsible for Senna also losing a go-kart title as a youngster, long before he even entered F1.

"If that was true it would be news to every reporter covering Senna’s story over the last decades," said Ernesto Rodrigues, who wrote a biography on the three-time F1 champion. "Yes, Senna had Balestre working against him many times. But Balestre was an autocrat with other drivers, too. It wasn’t exclusive."

Prost, played by Matt Mella, goes from being a racing foe to a friend after his retirement in the series just like in real life. The friction between the two as McLaren teammates and then in the title-deciding races in the 1989 and 1990 seasons create some of the best moments of the series for racing fans.

Three of the women in Senna’s life also appear in the series.

Scenes with Lílian de Vasconcellos Souza, who married Senna in 1981 and divorced him the next year, help show how the Brazilian was driven to go into F1 early in his career. Xuxa Meneghel, a wildly popular TV host, is featured for a full episode as the driver’s most important girlfriend. Adriane Galisteu, who was the champion’s girlfriend when he died, appears for less than three minutes.

Senna's importance to today's F1 drivers was on full display at the Brazilian Grand Prix this month, when Hamilton — the British seven-time F1 champion — drove one of Senna's old cars around the track as part of the tributes marking the 30th anniversary of his death.

"This is the greatest honor of my life," Hamilton said on Nov. 3. "I hope I made Senna proud."