‘Pineapple Express’: Is that stoner shirt stolen, James Franco?
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Even Nikki Finke is on this one.
Brooklyn-based T-shirt designer WOWCH is quite angry with the folks behind stoner comedy ‘Pineapple Express.’ On its website’s blog, it’s claiming that film’s director David Gordon Green ‘ripped off’ one of its designs featuring a cat in the mouth of a shark, available at Urban Outfitters stores circa 2005.
James Franco’s character wears a strikingly similar T-shirt throughout the entire movie. It can also be seen on the poster for the film.
The New York Daily News took it upon themselves to ask Franco himself whether or not it was a coincidence:
‘What? That’s ridiculous,’ Franco exclaimed. ‘We completely created that shirt and that shark. David wanted me to wear a purple Monterey Bay T-shirt with a whale on it. I said I wasn’t into the whale shirt, so he came up with his own design, which was the shark.’
Gawker does a nice close-up comparison of the two shirts. What do you think?
If you still think the shirt is cool, you can get the original for $25 at WOWCH’s website.
-- Denise Martin