The Reviewer Who Wasn't There

Newsweek, June, 2001 by John Horn

David Manning of The Ridgefield Press is one of Columbia Pictures' most reliable reviewers, praising Heath Ledger of "A Knight's Tale" as "this year's hottest new star!" and saluting "The Animal" as "another winner!" The studio plastered Manning's raves over at least four different movie advertisements, including "Hollow Man" and "Vertical Limit." But Manning's own life story should be called "Charade," because he doesn't exist. Challenged last week by NEWSWEEK about the reviewer's authenticity, Columbia parent Sony Pictures Entertainment admitted that Manning is a fake, a product of the studio's advertising department.

The Ridgefield Press (which was unaware of the deception) is a small Connecticut weekly, but that's where any verisimilitude ends. An unidentified Sony...

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