Lawyer Blasts Use Of Clinton In ‘Contact’

President Clinton’s lawyer Friday sent a sharply worded letter to director Robert Zemeckis objecting to the unauthorized use of Clinton’s image in the new Jodie Foster science fiction film “Contact.”

In the film, Clinton is shown apparently speaking at a press conference about contact with space aliens.

The letter, from presidential counsel Charles F.C. Ruff, called the appropriation of the Clinton image “fundamentally unfair,” “inappropriate” and “improper.”

The president appears in “Contact” through the use of digital imaging technology that allowed television footage of an actual Clinton press conference to be spliced into the film. The president is also shown interacting with characters in the film.

The scenes are so skillfully done that many viewers of “Contact,” which opened Friday, might believe the president participated in the film.