Tag: daisy ridley

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Marketing Recap

You can read my full recap of the marketing campaign for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker at The Hollywood Reporter.

Online and Social

As the other movies do, this one gets its own page on StarWars.com, complete with a collection of the posters, teasers, featurettes, photos and more. Blog posts that contain movie material or which highlight related announcements can be found on the page as well.

Media and Press

While we were still in the hype cycle for Episode XIII it was announced that Trevorrow, who’d long been attached to the project, had left. That was two Star Wars movies in row, including the Han Solo one, that had high-profile director shifts. Three if you count how Josh Trank was involved in a movie right up to the point he wasn’t. That firing was apparently a long-time coming and resulted from the director’s own personality issues, which caused tension with producer Kathleen Kennedy, and the fact that unlike on Jurassic World he didn’t have Steven Spielberg around to protect him.

Shockwaves then emanated when it was announced The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams would return for this movie, which was also pushed back from May to December. Later on, as part of the publicity for The Last Jedi, Abrams talked about taking the opportunity to return and close out the trilogy he started.

Isaac and others from the cast talked about the movie while promoting other projects.

A wide-ranging profile of Abrams included his recounting of the unusual sequence of events leading to his rejoining the franchise and his feelings of concern, panic, stress, excitement and more around doing so.

There as a significant press push in the wake of Star Wars Celebration and the debut of the first teaser. That included Abrams revealing Lucas was involved in crafting at least part of the story and Boyega making it clear he didn’t know what the title referred to either.

Abrams and members of the cast appeared on “Good Morning America” shortly after Celebration to talk about the movie and explain (or not) some of what was going on.

Meanwhile, Hamill explained why he has so much fun poking at obsessive Star Wars fans.

As has been the case with every Star Wars movie since 1999’s The Phantom Menace, the publicity cycle included a Vanity Fair cover story featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes photos by Annie Leibovitz. That series of stories offered not only new looks at the cast and sets but also additional details about what the story entails and what fans can expect from the film.

Ridley was interviewed about the emotional moment that was the final day of filming.

Another interview with Abrams in the wake of D23 had the director clarifying that nothing about The Last Jedi was being discarded, nor had that movie upset any plans for the series’ story. So, despite the outcry of disgruntled or disappointed viewers, that movie is still canon. He later shared his thinking on why it was important for Palpatine to return for this movie and more.

EW debuted a first official look at Zorri Bliss, the mysterious character played by Keri Russell. At around the same time Abrams was interviewed about his assurance that the movie would provide a satisfying conclusion to the nine-film epic story and more details were revealed about the watery planet seen in the trailers. Ackie was profiled in an interview about her reaction to joining the Star Wars universe.

In late November EW offered a big cover feature that included a number of other interviews, photos and other inside looks at the movie, with comments from most of the cast and crew. At the same time Rolling Stone ran its own package that included an interview with Kennedy about this movie and the future of the Star Wars franchise as well as another interview with Abrams about the story of the movie.

Late night appearances by the cast and Abrams started in late November as well, with Driver and Russell showing up on “The Late Show” as did Abrams. Ridley and Boyega showed up on “The Tonight Show” while Isaac chatted on “Late Night.” Russell chatted on “The Tonight Show” as well while Tran appeared on “The Daily Show.”

An extended profile of Williams had him talking about the legacy of Lando he still holds tightly to as well as his overall career and coming out of semi-retirement to revisit the character one last time.

An interview with Ridley allowed her to talk about what her plans for self-care are following her involvement in a massive multi-year commitment. Tran finally joined the press effort with an interview making it clear Rose has evolved in the time since the last story. A profile of Daniels included him promising this wasn’t the last you’ve heard of him as C-3PO while a similar interview with McDiarmid allowed him to talk about his expectation that he was done with the character of Palpatine until he got the call.

Abrams talked about the behind the scenes drama that lead to him coming back to the franchise and lots more in this extended profile that included him throwing a little shade at Johnson’s middle installment for being too “meta.” One of the movie’s cowriters spoke about trying to craft a worthy final chapter for the story.

The same night as the movie’s premiere, the whole cast along with Abrams appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to engage in games and more. Lupita Nyong’o, who is always forgotten about when discussing the cast, talked about the movie on “The Daily Show.”

Tran was interviewed about her experiences with Star Wars and more here.

Overall

Picking Up the Spare

That mysterious message from the presumed-dead Palpatine that kicks off the events of the movie was revealed in Fortnite, likely because of the promotional tie-in with that game. The movie’s editor explained why that message was cut from the film as well.

Abrams has praised Johnson while trying to downplay any potential bad blood because of the different directions the two directors took.

An interview with Terrio allowed him to dig an even deeper hole regarding the way the story makes Rose Tico into a non-factor.

A new featurette from IMAX has the cast and crew talking about their experiences making the movie. Another video from IMAX has them all sharing their favorite moments from throughout the Star Wars movies while a third has Issac answering fan-submitted questions.

One more TV spot touting the movie’s box-office success.

Second unit director Victoria Mahoney has finally been getting some attention, in part because she’s the first woman to have any directorial duties on a Star Wars feature.

Ophelia – Marketing Recap

ophelia posterFor as much of a masterpiece as Hamlet is, the female characters in the play are more than a little underwritten. Gertrude has little to do but watch her son descend into madness while being positioned as the disloyal wife now sleeping with her husband’s killer. Then there’s the subject of this week’s new movie Ophelia, which seeks to change the perspective of the events depicted in the play from her perspective.

Daisy Ridley stars as the title character, who is taken in as a young child by Queen Gertrude (Naomi Watts). That brings her into the life of young Hamlet (George MacKay) as well, a fateful pairing that will have repercussions for both after Hamlet’s father is killed. It’s then up to Ophelia to walk the line between her responsibilities in the court and what her heart is calling her to do.

The Posters

The title character is shown from behind on the first and only poster, her blue dress blending nicely with the wall covering behind her. Copy makes it clear the story will be telling “Hamlet through her eyes,” a nice way of communicating to the audience what they should expect.

The Trailers

IFC debuted the first trailer in late April. It shows Ophelia’s life before the events depicted in the play, including her relationship with the young prince Hamlet. When his father is killed and uncle assumes the throne we continue to get her perspective on events, seeing how her world is thrown upside down. She wants to help Hamlet, including encouraging him to run away with her, but no one seems to take her seriously and she gets caught up in the madness infecting the whole kingdom.

Online and Social

IFC Films’ official website for the movie has a good synopsis, the trailer and a cast list, but that’s about it. There are no social profiles, but the studio did promote it on its brand channels.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

Nothing I’ve been exposed to.

Media and Publicity

A first look photo showing Ridley as the title character appeared in EW’s Fall Movie Preview issue. More stills were released later on providing more looks at the film alongside comments from Watts just before its scheduled debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018, a debut many critics were anxiously looking forward to. While there McCarthy and Watts talked about the film and how telling the story from a woman’s point of view is super-timely and relevant.

IFC finally picked up distribution almost a year after that Sundance premiere.

The first clip was released in early June showing Ophelia having a pointed conversation with the Queen about their respective status in the castle. Another shows a flirtatious moment between Ophelia and Hamlet.

There was an interview with Watts about the movie but, surprisingly, nothing with Ridley, at least not to date. Most of the recent stories about her have been about Star Wars or her personal life.

Overall

More so than many other movies, this really does seem like a reimagining of a familiar story that may add something new and interesting to the original. As I mentioned, Ophelia’s role in Hamlet isn’t exactly a portrait of an empowered young woman, but there’s nothing in the marketing for the movie that suggests it detracts from the classic Shakespeare play so much as it adds shading and coloring, bringing out aspects not previously given full attention.

Ridley’s absence from the publicity circuit is disappointing given her place in the title role, but it may also be a symptom of being part of other, bigger productions. If that had been a bit more pronounced the campaign as a whole might have been a bit more engaging, but there hasn’t been anyone out there in the time leading up to release playing the story up as vital and important for contemporary audiences. That’s a shame.

Picking Up the Spare

Ridley finally started doing a little press for the movie, including an appearance on “The Tonight Show.” 

There have been a few more clips released by IFC Films. 

How the filmmakers sought to expand the story of the character was covered in this feature interview with the crew. 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Marketing Recap

star wars last jedi poster 9For the third time in as many years, Disney/Lucasfilm are bringing Star Wars to theaters just in time for the holidays. After successfully reintroducing the franchise with 2015’s The Force Awakens, we took a detour away from the core “Saga” that has been the focus of the movies to date in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Now we’re back to the story of the Jedi and the fight against the powers of darkness in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The story picks up right where The Force Awakens left off, as Rey (Daisy Ridley) finds the self-exiled Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who she hopes will help her learn who she is and what her destiny might be. Meanwhile, The Resistance, led by General Leia Organa (the late Carrie Fisher) continues its fight against the ascendant First Order, ruled by the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis). Poe Dameron (Oscar Issac) and Finn (John Boyega) along with Chewbacca and a bunch of porgs keep fighting the good fight while Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) continues to emote across the entire galaxy while trying not to be the Diet Coke of evil.

With so much Star Wars hype and promotion over the last three years, the franchise lately has never seemed far out of reach. To sell The Last Jedi effectively and forcefully, Disney has worked hard to make sure the campaign sells a compelling and unique product to the audience.

Continue reading “Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Marketing Recap”

Murder on the Orient Express – Marketing Recap

Director Kenneth Branagh assembles an all-star cast for this week’s Murder on the Orient Express, an adaptation of the classic Agatha Christie mystery of the same name. Branagh himself takes on the role of Christie’s famous detective Hercule Poirot, who finds himself on a train running through parts of the Middle East and surrounding areas.

Along on the ride are over a dozen other passengers, not to mention crew. When one of those passengers, Edward Ratchett (Johnny Depp) is killed, Poirot uses the time available to him to investigate who the murderer might be from a collection of society figures and others. Daisy Ridley, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfieffer, Josh Gad and others all play the assembled passengers/suspects.

The Posters

“Everyone is a suspect” we’re told on the first poster, which is quite a statement considering the impressive cast list that’s on display. The primary image is of a train speeding along the track, with oddly red smoke pouring out of its stack.

The theatrical poster does inside to the interior of the lounge car, the various characters arranged around the inside of that car, some with a drink in hand and all glancing purposefully somewhere.

Each member of the impressive cast, as well as the substantial supporting cast, was featured individually on their own character poster, some shown inside the train and some outside.

The Trailers

The first trailer sets the stage of being set on a train trip through the wilderness. We get some narration about how interesting the forced-collection of strangers into a confined space can be. Seen we hear a passenger has died and we see the roles each passenger will take on. All of them are a suspect and we finally meet Hercules Pirot, who introduces himself as the greatest detective in the world.

It’s short but it’s to the point, selling the all-star cast being involved in a murder mystery.

The second trailer is no less focused on the cast being a major selling point but also has more of the story to offer. A conversation between Pirot and the gangster played by Depp provides a framing device to show how the detective’s investigation expands to involve everyone aboard. That’s good, but there’s also a lot of shots here of trains derailing and other action sequences that seem designed to assure audiences it won’t all be thinking. I get the sense the studio is trying to dumb it down a bit, at least here in the marketing.

Online

A photo of the room Ratchett was killed in is used on the front page of the movie’s official site, which has a notable domain name, the victim’s own feet visible at the bottom of the image, which keeps bouncing around like the train is still moving.

Some of the objects scattered around the Crime Scene are clickable, bringing up a closer look and a text box where you’re supposed to write notes about that piece of evidence. Those Clues were scattered throughout the marketing and publicity campaign and are assembled in that section of the site, though with no further guidance or hints as to what they might be. The Suspects section then has pictures and names for all the passengers and others on the train who are being investigated and evaluated for their role in the murder. By logging in to the site (using your Facebook credentials) you can track your progress in solving the mystery.

There are also links encouraging you to Get Tickets as well as follow the movie’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

The first TV commercial sells a high-tension thriller involving multiple suspects trapped in tight quarters, making sure to show off the all-star cast and with music that adds to the suspense and sense of urgency involved in finding the real killer in a sea of motives. Further TV spots would hit slightly different beats but all sell the same basic idea.

Some of those commercials wound up being used as promoted posts on Twitter and pre-roll spots on YouTube. Other online ads used the key art of the star-studded cast as well as short video clips.

There were also at least a couple brand that helped with promotional efforts. Godiva released a number of movie-themed collections of chocolates and other sweets and ran a sweepstakes awarding a train trip through California’s Napa Valley. HSN meanwhile offered a bunch of fashion items inspired by both the look of the movie and the time period the story takes place in.

Media and Publicity

While there was certainly coverage of the movie during production, the first big push was kicked off by a cover story in Entertainment Weekly that included first look photos of the cast, comments from Branagh about the production and the ensemble that was assembled and much more. That came around the same time as a big press event in London where the cast was brought together and talked about the movie while the studio showed off a bit of footage.

A first look photo in EW’s fall movie preview was accompanied by a brief interview with Branagh where he talked about how he had the cast shoot one of the movie’s most difficult sequences on the very first day of filming. A later feature profile of Pfieffer focused on this and other upcoming or recent movies that mark the return to regular work for the actor, who talked about shooting such a star-studded production and why she’s taken a few breaks over the last decade. The New York Times did a similar feature interview.

Later on there was a profile of Branagh that talked about the big year he’s having in a number of films and stage productions, this included. The director/star also did the media interview rounds on TV and in print to talk about the movie and taking on such a well known story.

Overall

First off, it has to be noted that like this week’s Daddy’s Home 2 this movie features some problematic casting, particularly as the media’s attention is turned to sexual harassment and toxic masculinity in the entertainment and other industries. That Johnny Depp is not only in the movie but featured so prominently in the marketing (though not in the publicity) shows there are no real consequences for domestic abuse or other behavior if you’re white, male and popular enough at the box-office.

Perhaps that’s why so much of the publicity has focused, with the exception of Branagh, on both Ridley (partly in conjunction with her Star Wars notoriety) and Pfieffer, who’s enjoying a much-needed career resurgence.

Putting that to the side, the rest of the campaign sells a movie that may be based on an old musty book today’s young people may have seen on their grandmother’s family room shelves but never picked up as a slick, colorful, energetic thriller. From the neon lighting that’s shown on the posters to the Imagine Dragons tracks used in the trailers and the pacing of the TV spots, the studio is working hard to liven up the story and make it appear to be the polar opposite of a dry, slow thriller. It’s action-packed, the campaign promises, and filled with stars you’ve already enjoyed.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.