It’s been a busy year for Hollywood, with major releases like Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Solo: A Star Wars Story proving popular, as well as a number of one-liners, meme-worthy moments and controversies that have entertained and annoyed us all.
One of the most talked-about films of the year was Robert Pattinson’s Reprisal, which tells the story of a man framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Starring opposite Jennifer Morrison and Paul Bettany, the drama was based on the real-life case of Eric Matthew Welch, a mechanic who spent eight years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Welch was released in 2014 and eventually discovered his accuser, Amanda Knox, had falsely accused him.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, before releasing in theaters on August 2nd. And although it was a commercial and critical failure, it seems many people still have something to say about it. Here are some of the best memes and quotes from the movie.
The Eric Matthew Welch Meme
In 2014, the year before his release from prison, Welch wrote a blog post titled: “What is Eric Matthew Welch’s Relationship Status?” in which he listed off his interests, including film, music, traveling and “just chilling with my dogs.”
The post struck a chord with many people who felt like they knew Welch thanks to his frequent mention of his dogs, Shadow and Gracie, in his social media posts. So much so that six years later, when the opportunity to work on Reprisal arose, Welch decided to play on the internet’s familiarity with his dogs’ names by having his characters respond to queries about their own personal lives with the names of his canine companions.
In the film, when asked about his hobbies, John Rambo replies: “Dogs, I love my dogs,” before launching into a story about how his beloved German shepherd Gracie became ill and had to be put down. When asked if he’s ever committed a crime, Billy Prichard replies: “No, just an accident. They framed me. I was gonna save the world, but I wound up in prison.”
Welch’s decision to base the blog post on his own life was something he later celebrated, telling Yahoo! that he chose the pen name “Eric Matthew Welch” as an inside joke to reference his time in prison. “It kind of became this inside joke,” he said. “People thought they knew me. At first I was like, ‘No, no, it’s a coincidence!'”
Billy Prichard’s Daughter
Billy Prichard was born Charles Darnell Prichard in Alabama in 1938. He grew up in Birmingham and made his way to Hollywood in the 1960s, where he became friends with the Wolf family, famous film producers. He eventually adopted the “Billy” part of his name and became friends with the star of the movie, William Holden.
After graduating from law school in the early 1970s, Billy Prichard worked as a lawyer in Hollywood. One of his clients was an up-and-coming young actor named Robert Pattinson, whom he defended in court against an alleged assault charge stemming from an incident with an underage Juliette Lewis. The trial was one of the first public interactions between Patterson and Prichard, and the lawyer’s daughter later claimed that it was the beginning of their “deep and abiding friendship.”
Pattinson and Prichard kept in touch after the trial, with Johnson writing that their friendship was “loyalty tested and proved” due to the fact that they were both “highly principled men.” In 2014, their bond was tested yet again when the film Reprisal was released. Based on true events, the drama centers on an innocent man (Pattinson) who is framed for a crime he didn’t commit. The actor took a bit of a break from legal practice to play the part of John Rambo, a former Army ranger who is wrongly accused of murdering Mrs. Johnson (Maura Tierney). When Mrs. Johnson’s body is later found in the woods, Billy’s daughter Julie (Evangeline Lilly) blames John Rambo for her father’s murder, even though he’s still in prison.
Although the film didn’t do well at the box office, it seems many people still see it as a turning point for both men. In the years that followed, Pattinson became involved in a serious relationship with Alicia Vikander, while Prichard transitioned from acting to producing, eventually forming his own production company, Northwood Pictures. In 2018, he produced the documentary The Man Who Would Be Pope, which explored the papacy of Donald Trump’s spiritual mentor, Roger Staubach. Staubach has credited Trump with having the “biggest impact on [his] life” — as well as the largest impact on the direction of the church today.
A year after producing The Man Who Would Be Pope, Prichard passed away at the age of eighty-one. His passing was marked by a number of high profile friends and fans, including William Holden, who described Prichard as “one of the most fascinating and complex human beings I ever met.”
Donald Trump’s Granddaughter (Miranda Lambert)
It wouldn’t be a list of famous quotes from Reprisal without mentioning the most famous one, which is spoken by none other than President Donald Trump himself: “I’m a famous person. Who cares if I die?”
In the scene, Billy Prichard is sitting in his living room, talking to a reporter for a magazine who wants to do a profile on him. As he talks about his friendship with Robert Pattinson, Trump’s grandaughter, Miranda Lambert, walks in and interrupts. “Hi, I’m Miranda Lambert. I’ve got a friend who wants to know if you’ll be promoting a movie in Nashville this week,” she says, handing the journalist an invitation to a premiere.
The actor has been vocal about his admiration for the 45th president, telling Vogue in April 2018 that he sees “a lot of myself” in Trump.
“He’s very generous. He’s funny. He’s down to earth. He gets the point across but also sees the humor in what he’s saying,” the Twilight star said. “I think that’s why people like me and Donald Trump get along so well. We have a similar sense of humor.”
In another interview, Pattinson admitted he didn’t expect to have a connection with the Trump family. “I didn’t realize how much I would like it until I had it. It’s a nice feeling,” he said. “When I think about it, it’s strange that I have so much in common with this person, but I feel that I know him. It makes me feel like I’m not so different from everyone else after all.”
Juliette Lewis’ Mother (Mae Moore)
One of the stars of Reprisal, Julianne Lewis, is the daughter of actress Mae (Maude) Moore. Although Mae and her daughter have not been close since Juliette turned eighteen and left home, Moore still considers her to be “a very special person” who has helped shaped her into the actress she is today. When asked about her thoughts on Reprisal, Mae answered: “I think it’s terrible. I think that young man [Robert Pattinson] should not have been put through that. That’s a terrible misunderstanding. He’s a sensitive young man; he’s not a murderer.”
Mae’s portrayal of Ruth Younger, the mother of the falsely accused Billy Prichard, drew widespread praise, with many viewers deeming it to be one of the best performances of the year.
Robert Pattinson and William Holden’s Daughter (Elizabeth Taylor)
The list of celebrities with famous parents would be incomplete without Robert Pattinson and William Holden. Their daughter, Elizabeth Taylor, starred with them in the 1939 classic, Dark Victory, which was a precursor to the important role she would go on to play in Reprisal. The film, which ends with Taylor being carried out of the courtroom on a stretcher, will be forever remembered for the iconic scene in which she tries on dresses and shows off her figure.
Dark Victory was the first screen performance of Taylor’s life. Her mother, who was seventeen when the film was released, had to walk her sister home from school one day when their parents couldn’t make it back in time from an important conference call. The two later became close friends, and Elizabeth continued to see her as “a second mother” even after her parents divorced and later died.