We’re back with another edition of Urban Legend: Fact or Fiction. In this chapter, we are going to explore a long-debated Hollywood tale: can villains use iPhones in movies and TV shows?
The Story
Did you know Apple has a clause in its brand deals that prevents villains from using their phones in movies and TV? So, any character you see with an iPhone, you automatically know cannot be the wrongdoer. And once you start to notice, it’s spoilers galore.
Evidence
There have always been rumblings about the strange stipulations behind brand deals. In 2006, NBC was sued by Emerson Electric, which makes the InSinkErator garbage disposal. Why? The company was upset over a scene on the show “Heroes” where a character mangles their hand in one of its units. Claiming it tarnished the brand name. The case went nowhere, but NBC did cut the scene from future airings.
However, this particular iPhone clause came to light in 2020 when “Knives Out” director Rian Johnson basically confirmed it. “Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies, but – and this is very pivotal – if you’re ever watching a mystery movie, bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera,” he told Vanity Fair. “Every single filmmaker who has a bad guy in their movie that’s supposed to be a secret wants to murder me right now.”
In 2024, prop master Heidi Koleto backed up Johnson’s claims. “Apple is very specific,” she told the Wrap Drinks podcast. “I got a script once where an actress is supposed to be looking at her phone while she’s driving drunk and crashes her car. They wanted to see a text message pop up and I had to be like, ‘We can’t do that. We’ve established this character with an Apple phone. We can’t have her driving drunk and crashing while looking at an iPhone. They will never work with me again.'”
So That’s It, Myth Busted
Well, here is the thing: Apple will not confirm or deny this rumor. While there seems to be no written rule specifically stating “bad people can’t use iPhones,” there are policies that could support this claim.
According to Apple’s Guidelines for Using Apple Trademarks and Copyrights, “the Apple product is shown only in the best light, in a manner or context that reflects favorably on the Apple products and on Apple Inc.” Adding, “You may not use an Apple trademark or any other Apple-owned graphic symbol, logo, or icon in a disparaging manner.”
But that’s the thing, Apple only gets to set these rules if it’s paying for the brand deal. And Apple, historically, does not pay for product placement. “Apple won’t pay to have their products featured, but they are more than willing to hand out an endless amount of computers, iPads and iPhones,” Gavin Polone, executive producer of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” told Bloomberg Businessweek.
These deals are suspected to give the company the leverage to set some ground rules for how the products are seen. Creators are free to use company logos in media, assuming it’s not disparaging the brand in some kind of obvious way. Having the big bad killer using an iPhone wouldn’t be nearly enough to constitute that.
Pop Culture
Ever since Johnson’s comments, fans have been digging for proof that this clause does or doesn’t exist. So far, it seems to trace back to the early 2000s.
- 2001-2010 “24” – The Fox series seemingly took this idea to the extreme, having the good-coded characters use only Apple products. While the bad-coded characters ran off Windows.
- 2019 “Knives Out” – Every character in the film uses an iPhone, sans Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans) and Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas). Aka the Red Herring and the actual villain in the story.
- 2022 “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” – Johnson is back. This time, he makes a tongue-in-cheek reference to the rule and has his killer forgo a phone altogether.
- 2018 – 2023 “Succession” – Like “24”, the characters on the show are brand loyal to Apple, except Logan Roy (Brian Cox), Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron), or Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen).
- 2026 “Scream 7” ? – This rule is being applied by horror fans to the new “Scream 7” trailer as proof that Sidney (Neve Campbell) isn’t the killer. It would be wild for her to turn evil this late into the franchise, but we won’t know for sure until next year.
Pop Culture Exceptions
But what is a rule if it isn’t made to be broken? For each example that sticks to this alleged rule, there is another that doesn’t.
- 2016-2020 “The Good Place” – Trevor (Adam Scott), a Bad Place demon, is seen clearly holding an iPhone in the 3rd season.
- 2017 “Baby Driver” – Baby (Ansel Elgort) and others are shown with Apple products like iPods.
- 2022 “We Own This City” – Shows corrupt cops using FaceTime.
- 2024 “Trap” – Serial killer Cooper Abbott (Josh Hartnett) is seen using an iPhone
Is it Real?
The answer here is a bit murky. It seems there is no steadfast rule barring bad characters from using Apple products. But it does seem like there is an unwritten understanding between the tech giant and the entertainment industry. So let’s just call this one a soft confirmed, but not really a full on spoiler given how many projects dont follow it.
