Actor’s fury at change to iconic film poster

A Hollywood great has taken aim at Amazon for changing an iconic film poster and completely misunderstanding the point in the process.

Hollywood star Matthew Modine has hit out at Amazon after it changed the artwork on the its website to a renowned film he starred in.

Matthew Modine, 65, took to X, formerly Twitter, to slam the streamer for tweaking the poster of the war film Full Metal Jacket, reported The New York Post.

It was the last film of Stanley Kubrick released during the legendary director’s lifetime.

Modine included a photo of the helmet in his tweet.

Matthew Modine attends the Back To Black New York Premiere on May 14, 2024. (Photo by Manny Carabel / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

“Who decided to remove ‘BORN TO KILL?’’ Modine blasted Amazon in his tweet, adding, “Not only did they alter a piece of iconic art by Philip Castle, but they completely misunderstood the point of it being there.”

The movie’s original poster feature’s a helmet with the words “Born to Kill” scrawled upon it. Amazon Prime stripped the phrase off, and showed the helmet sans the words on their version of the poster.

“[My character] Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with ‘BORN TO KILL’ and the peace button as a statement about ‘the duality of man,’” Modine continued.

Modine’s scathing tweet on the poster change. Picture: Twitter/X.

The movie – which also co-starred Adam Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio and Lee Ermey – follows a platoon of US Marines in the Vietnam War era, as they go through boot camp and struggle under their drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Heartman (Ermey).

They’re also shown during the notorious Tet Offensive.

It’s considered one of the most iconic war movies ever made.

In a key scene, a commanding officer asks Private Joker why he has the words on his helmet, asking, “What’s that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?”

Pvt. Joker tells him that it means, “The duality of man. The Jungian thing, sir,” referring to the psychiatrist Carl Jung.

It wasn’t clear why Amazon edited the poster.

The original poster.

Fans took to social media to agree with Modine, who stars in Netflix smash Stranger Things, and berate Amazon, describing the poster as “iconic” and that scene as “one of the best parts of the entire film.”

“Why on earth would they do this?” another fan commented. “Terrible“.

“Here we go again. Hey corporations, stop censoring art,” another fan wrote.

Another fan complained, “’It is NOT OK to censor history or art”.

The poster on Amazon has since resumed its original look.

According to industry news website Deadline, film studio Warner Brothers. had asked that the “detail page” for Full Metal Jacket be updated to reflect the original art.

The Post reached out to Prime Video for comment.

This article appears din The New York Post and is reproduced with permission.

Originally published as Actor’s fury at change to iconic film poster