The following letter is a response from Mr. George Lutz to an article that was posted in the Surburban Chicago News.  You can find the original text of the article following his response.
From:  George Lutz
Sent:  Monday, August 23, 2004 1:20 pm
To:  Chris Cashman
Subject:  'Amityville'

Dear Chris Cashman,

My name is George Lutz and I am the subject of various statements and I assume quotes of the article reprinted below.  These statements that were attributed to me are not true.  I was not interviewed or contacted by anyone associated with your organization.  

Furthermore, I did NOT sign an agreement with Dimension films to remake the first movie...... the agreement does not reflect any such language as MGM has historically maintained that they have those specific rights.  When I questioned through my attorney their intent to do a remake they sued me.  

I do not ever recall using the words that "I hated the first movie"...... I wish I had at times when asked about it, but I have certainly expressed my family's concern about it's inaccuracies and embellishments.  

This statement/quote:
"Lutz, who has said that the remake will be more truthful to his family's experience in the home."... this is fabrication in the extreme.  The people making this movie have chosen once again ( as they did when they made the first version) not to involve me or my family.  I have no idea what kind of a movie they are making and they do not want us to know.  They spent many months earlier this year promising to invite me to their offices for discussions, and cited 'scheduling problems' with the writer and Mr. Bay as the reasons for the delays that continued month after month in these proposed 'discussions'.

There did come a point when I expressed my concern about issues that I had hoped to discuss with them and that the delays meeting with them were forcing me to contact MGM directly (which we did)... but my only take on their intentions at this point is the one they created... they have chosen to deal with the story my family lived through with complete disregard for the whatever effect this may have upon us.  They could have made a truthful, factual and accurate movie.... We as a family have always believed that is what should be done.  I should add here that they "may" say they are trying to do just that, but I have to ask "HOW?"  do you do that without any involvement personally by those who lived it.

When you are dealing with "life rights" in any forum there will always be distortions and we have spent 25 years living with and trying to undo the first movies effects caused by these kinds of acts of indifference and intellectual dishonesty... even taken further, the movie going public has the .... right.... to see this portrayal accurately, not with the outrageous events that writers and directors create because they want to.

I have no reason to believe that a faithful reflection of Jay Anson's book is the path they have chosen and I wonder why anyone with a true story would ever deal with MGM or Michael Bay productions if this is how they conduct business.  Until such a time as I am shown otherwise by these people, the success they created for themselves here with this production will be a shallow excuse for the public trust they disregard and the damage that they do.  In the future, I can only hope that the true story will be done by someone that cares enough to with integrity less the artistic license employed by others.

I do request you retract the following in your next publication.

"Last year George Lutz signed an agreement with Dimension Films to remake the first movie.  Lutz, who reportedly hated the first film that starred James Brolin, has said that the remake will be more truthful to his family's experience in the home".

I would and do further request that the source for this statement be clearly referred to in the retraction.

Thank you for your attention to this.

Sincerely,

George Lutz

Reply From Reporter To Mr. George Lutz

Dear Mr. Lutz,

I was forwarded a letter that you wrote to Chris Cashman, editor of the News Sun in Waukegan, pointing out misinformation about a story I wrote about a remake of The Amityville Horror.

First, I do apologize fore the errors in the story, but this information was all relayed to everyone at the village board meeting (officials and public) in a presentation made by Brady Breen.  For your information, the movie is being shot at a house on Silver Lake, about a mile from my own house (and I drive by the set at least once a day - mostly they are just a nuisance to the locals).

My job is to report what happens at a meeting - what is said by whom and what action is taken.  Unless I am working on a feature story, I do not contact other sources beyond what occurs at that meeting, especially since I write the story immediately after the meeting.  

Obviously these folks who are remaking this first movie are trying to portray themselves as making a movie that is more fact than fiction.  

I have not attempted to contact them to do any kind of story on the remake itself, or the filming at the lakefront site.  The security folks are decidedly unfriendly and in general I have heard from other media that they have not welcomed any publicity.  I just happened to be at the Antioch village board meeting when Brady Breen approached the board with his request so that is the reason information about this movie even got in our newspaper.

At least I know your side of the remake issue - in case this is brought before any other village or governing board that I usually cover.

Sincerely yours,

Diana Kuyper
Original Text From News Article:
This Article Courtesy Of Suburban Chicago News

Movie Remake:  Scenes To Be Shot Downtown Next Month

ANTIOCH - Downtown Antioch will be turned into downtown Amityville N.Y. for a day when Long Island Productions rolls into town in early September to shoot a few scenes for the remake of the 1979 film "The Amityville Horror."  

The remake is under production now just north of the state line at an old three-story Victorian mansion on Silver Lake in Salem, Wis.  The post production crew did some quick remodeling work to the exterior of the mansion to better resemble the original house in Amityville on the Long Island Sound that was supposedly haunted by the previous owners who had been murdered in 1974.  

Antioch officials gave the OK to Brady Been, location manager for the production company from Buffalo Grove, to shoot scenes on Main Street in downtown Antioch next month.  

"This is a great looking town that we think will work well into the film to portray Amityville of the mid-'70s," said Breen, who explained that the modern day cars that are usually parked on Main Street will be replaced with vehicles popular in the 1970's.  

"We're trying to stay as true as possible to the original era of the first film," said Breen.

The 28 days the Lutz family lived in the Amityville house, where they experienced a series of frightening events, was in 1975, a year after six members of the DeFeo family were murdered in their beds by oldest son Ronald Defeo.

Last year George Lutz signed an agreement with Dimension Films to remake the first movie.  Lutz, who reportedly hated the first film that starred James Brolin, has said that the remake will be more truthful to his family's experience in the home.

The remake stars Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George.  It is being directed by Andrew Douglas.  Screenwriter Scot Kosar also wrote the screenplay for the remake of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

Filming in Salem began earlier this month and is expected to continue through September.  Breen said the film crew will shoot scenes in Camp Lake, Wis. and is talking to St. Peter's Church officials in Antioch to do additional scenes there.  

"We may film inside and outside of the chapel," Breen said.  "We are also talking to the owners of The Village Pub on Main Street because we want to shoot a short scene there of someone talking on a pay phone."

Breen said the Illinois Department of Transportation has given the OK to shoot on Main Street (Route 83) which is a state route.

He requested that off duty police escort the camera crew as they film along Main Street.  Otherwise the production company will provide all of the security.  

"We need about half a day and want to control traffic between Lake and Orchard streets.  We'll start after the morning rush hour so we disrupt traffic as little as possible," he said.  

He added that shoppers may be asked to step aside or go into stored during the filming so that no modern dress styles interfere with the 70's look of the film.  "Only the really tacky dressers will be allowed to walk along the sidewalks,"  Breen joked.  

The Salem house was chosen because it had to be on the water and it is on a large lot that can accommodate all the filming equipment.  The Victorian-style house on Silver Lake has been vacant for more than twenty years.  

Very little shooting is being done inside the house.  Most of the interiors are being shot in Buffalo Grove.  

The crew also built a stairway down to the lakefront and a boathouse on the lake that will be removed after the filming ends.  

Breen told the Village Board that the film will be released in 2005.

(Article reprinted from Suburban Chicago News )


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