lady bird

Picking Up the Spare – Tag, Superfly and More

Superfly

More from Future on the soundtrack he produced and curated, which was a big part of the marketing campaign, here. Director X has also been giving interviews like this now that the movie is out.

Also recommended is this compare/contrast of this album with that of the original.

Tag

Star Jeremy Renner’s broken arms are part of this interview with director Jeff Tomsic where he talks about all the challenges he had making the movie.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Star Thandie Newton talked more here about the dress she wore to the premiere featuring the faces of the characters of color in the franchise to date.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

More on the Kellogg’s promotion for the movie here.

The movie is the next release to get the AR treatment from Moviebill, which is once again handing out periodicals to Regal Cinemas audiences that can be scanned using the Regal app to unlock exclusive content, including interviews (in print and AR format) with star Bryce Dallas Howard and director J.A. Bayona, a welcome message from star Chris Pratt, an interactive “dino-lab” and a sample of the dinosaurs available in the Jurassic World Alive, the location-based AR mobile game developed by Ludia.

That game is built on location and other data from Google Maps, which is helping to promote both the game and the services behind it.

Daniella Pineda has received a few profiles like this after being identified as the breakout newcomer – or at least largely unknown – in the movie. That makes the reports that a scene clearly identifying her as LGBTQ was cut, the latest instance of that happening in a major studio franchise film, somewhat awkward.

There’s also a bit of extra attention coming to co-star Justice Smith.

Director J.A. Bayona was never the focus of much of the press in advance of the movie’s release, but there was an interview with him here and another one here.

First Reformed

More from director Paul Schrader on the film’s disturbing characters and situations as well as his feelings and thoughts on God.

Gotti

The campaign for this is one I let go by me because it seemed like a terrible mess and the post-release developments have only reinforced that decision. Here are some examples:

The studio, along with MoviePass (which invested in the film), published a really weird and insulting Tweet positioning critics giving it a negative review as enemies of the common folk.
That same message was conveyed in push notifications to MoviePass mobile users and is what the movie’s marketing team is selling as they float the idea Rotten Tomatoes is artificially keeping its score down.
There’s speculation that the disconnect between that score and a strangely high audience ranking could be because of a bot/fake account campaign being mounted, something the studio denies.

Wonder Woman

As the marketing for the sequel ramps up, Turner Ignite placed a paid article on Ad Age about how Turner networks and shows helped sell the first movie to audiences.

Amazon promoted the movie’s availability on its streaming service with a Father’s Day clip featuring some of Tracy Letts’ wonderfully-delivered lines from the movie.

The Incredibles 2

More from costar Holly Hunter in this brief interview.

A Wrinkle In Time

It seems Disney used the tactic of pairing this movie, which is already on home video, with The Incredibles 2 at drive-in theaters around the country to help it eek past the $100m mark.

Avengers: Infinity War / Deadpool 2

Josh Brolin is interviewed about how popular he is right now and how that kind of bothers and worries him.

Boundaries

OK, I’ll grant you that co-star Peter Fonda’s Tweet about Bannon Trump was in poor taste, but right now the last person who should be asserting any sort of moral highground on literally any issue at all is Donald Trump Jr. Indiewire has the whole recap, including Sony Classics’ position on the matter.

Christopher Plummer’s character was based in part on the real life grandfather of director Shana Feste.

The Catcher Was a Spy

The New York Times delves into the real history of Moe Berg, played by Paul Rudd in the movie.

Black Panther

An exhibit of the movie’s costumes will be on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Dundee

No, it wasn’t a real movie, but the campaign for Tourism Australia that sure looked like a movie’s marketing push just won multiple awards at the Cannes Social Lions.

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

Picking Up the Spare – Detroit, Lady Bird, Wind River and More

Detroit

Part of John Boyega’s appearance during the Star Wars publicity cycle also touched on this movie’s rerelease into theaters for an awards season push.

Lady Bird / Get Out

Directors Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele, both of whom broke out as significant behind-the-camera talents this year, were the subjects of a Vanity Fair photo shoot/cover story talking about their career journeys to date and what might be next.

Lady Bird

Saoirse Ronan talked more about working with Gerwig and what drew her to the story here.

The actor also hosted last week’s episode of “Saturday Night Live” where Gerwig dropped by for one of the digital shorts.

Good Time

I didn’t write about the movie’s campaign, but Krstina Monllos at Adweek has a story on how A24 is promoting its home video release with a pizza box campaign in New York City.

Wind River

Director Taylor Sheridan was so outraged by the news about Harvey Weinstein that he called to extract the rights to the movie and have them revert to the Tunica-Biloxi tribe, which has taken over awards season promotions. Proceeds from the film are also being sent to an organization that tracks abuse of Native American women, something that’s drastically uncounted currently.

Coco

The movie has continued receiving plenty of TV advertising, including spots like this that encouraged families to see it in IMAX.

The Frozen short that was shown before the movie was much-derided by just about everyone, so when it was announced it was being removed it seemed to be in reaction to that criticism. Disney soon claimed, though, that a limited run was always the plan.

LBJ

More from director Rob Reiner here about why he wanted to tell Johnson’s story and how he made the movie happen.

Alien: Covenant

Director Ridley Scott spoke briefly about the future of the franchise, assuring fans there would be more movies coming but that they take a different approach.

Wonder Woman

Not that surprising, really, but Wonder Woman is the most-Tweeted about film of 2017.

I, Tonya

Makeup artist Deborah La Mia Denaver talked about how she turned star Margot Robbie into the much different looking Tonya Harding. And director Craig Gillespie spoke about how a career shooting commercials – including one starring Nancy Kerrigan – prepared him for the movie.

Darkest Hour

Costar Lily Collins has done some media to promote the film now that it’s in theaters as well as talk about other upcoming projects.

Wonderstruck

Production designer Mark Friedberg talks here about creating the miniatures and dioramas that were used in the film to bridge the story’s two time periods.

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

Picking Up The Spare: Justice League, The Florida Project, Coco and More

Justice League

Warner Bros. worked with GIF platform Tenor (a Giphy competitor) on a sponsored Justice League GIF keyboard app takeover, offering exclusive GIFs from the film. That effort was promoted with a social media campaign as well.

That Superman’s part in the story was now public knowledge also meant the release of a new poster and banner that included him in the team lineup. These used the same artwork as was previously released, just with Superman now filling in a conspicuous gap.

Slightly spoilerish, but here’s a list of scenes from the trailers that didn’t make it into the finished film. Also kind of tipping the hat is a picture shared by Joe Manganiello of him in full Deathstroke gear.

Cavill was finally allowed to speak for himself and talk about Superman’s role in the story, including how the character changed due to the events of Batman v Superman.

Gillette continues to run social media ads for its movie-branded products, with a link to purchase those items at Walmart.

More details on the IMAX virtual reality experience that was offered in select cities here.

Much like Suicide Squad last year, reports are starting to emerge that studio micromanaging heavily influenced the final structure and tone of the film, something that’s been much-discussed by fanboys who believe there’s some magical, unadulterated “Snyder Cut” of the movie sitting in an archive somewhere.

The Florida Project

Another profile of director Sean Baker that presents him as a Hollywood outsider who’s eager to maintain that status and keep making his indie features.

Coco

Insights from writer/director Lee Unkrich and others here on how he and the rest of the Pixar team worked hard to make sure the movie was respectful of the culture being portrayed as possible. The same topic is covered here as well.

Actress Natalia Cordova-Buckley shared her thoughts on voicing the late real life artist Frida Kahlo and the experiences that led her to embrace such a challenge.

Lady Bird

Writer/director Greta Gerwig has continued making media appearances like this one to talk about the film and the satisfaction she felt by finally directing.

Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Director Dan Gilroy and star Denzel Washington talked here about how the former wrote the part specifically for the latter and how Washington boarded the project, helping to shape the character as filming went on.

Novitiate

Another interview here with writer/director Maggie Betts on the inspiration for the story and how she tackled such sensitive material.

Beauty and the Beast

The movie is returning to theaters in what appears to be not only an attempt to reach holiday audiences but also remind awards season voters of the costume design and more.

Call Me By Your Name

Buzzfeed posted a hit-piece on star Armie Hammer, pegging him as an entitled white guy who gets multiple shots at stardom because of his position while others are quickly discarded after multiple misfires. Hammer reacted to the piece in what is a pretty appropriate manner.

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Director Martin McDonagh spoke here about how he found star Francis McDormand and worked with her to get the story’s tone right.

A new short TV spot hits some of the same beats as were seen in the main campaign but with the addition of plenty of positive critics quotes.

There have also been some new character posters released that show the three leads surrounded by positive quotes praising the movie.

Blade Runner 2049

Director Denis Villeneuve offers some time-enhanced thoughts on making the movie and developing the characters in this interview.

Beach Rats

Director Eliza Hittman talks about the view of masculinity and other topics taken in the film here.

The Disaster Artist

A couple new TV spots have been released by A24, one that shows the enthusiasm of Wiseau in making the movie and one that shows he refuses to accept the negativity of others.

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

Picking Up The Spare: Last Flag Flying, Detroit, Lady Bird

Last Flag Flying

Another interview with director Richard Linklater about his career, the pivot to a story that’s outside of what he usually tells and more.

Detroit

The movie is returning to theaters in select markets around the time it hits home video and there’s a new trailer for that release that hits some very different emotional and narrative beats than were seen in the original campaign.

Lady Bird

More conversations with writer/director Greta Gerwig about the path she took to making this movie as well as with the costume and production designers about creating the look of the movie.

Costar Beanie Feldstein, who plays the title character’s friend in the film, is getting more and more attention now that it’s in theaters, including this profile and interview. And Tracy Letts, who plays the out-of-work father, talks here about how quickly he was attracted to the script and to working with Gerwig.

Thor: Ragnarok

Director Taika Waititi talks here about how he got the rights to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” and thank goodness he did considering how well it plays in the trailer.

Jeff Goldblum explains how he got involved in such a grandiose film and how he worked with Waititi to create a colorful and memorable character.

I don’t think I included this late-breaking trailer in my recap but it’s lots of fun, in no small part because of some cool Valkyrie sequences.

Daddy’s Home 2

Will Ferrell made appearances on late night TV, though as usual those were centered more around his antics than the movie itself.

A great piece here on the fact that Mel Gibson has apparently been totally forgiven by Hollywood (and likely audiences) without really doing anything.

Novitiate

Melissa Leo talks more here about how she took on the role of the Reverend Mother with additional comments from writer/director Maggie Betts on the actress and the character she plays.

Murder on the Orient Express

Not that surprisingly, the costume design for the highly-stylized film has finally received some press attention along with the production design.

Kenneth Branagh talks here about how he updated the story a bit to make it a bit more relevant and accessible for the audience.

Wonder

Lionsgate worked with Jigsaw, part of the Alphabet network of companies, to create a Chrome extension that finds offensive or inflammatory comments and replaces them with messages of kindness. I’m not quite sure I get how that doesn’t cross over into “creepy censorship,” but whatever.

Julia Roberts spoke here about walking the line of sentimentality in the story.

That Facebook Messenger bot I was unsure of a few days ago was what I expected it to be, a platform for people to message the page and receive an inspirational message in return. You can see a video promoting the chatbot, created by imperson, here.

Justice League

Finally, here’s the kind of profile of Gal Gadot that I was hoping to see earlier in the campaign.

Jeremy Irons did a bit of late-night TV to talk about playing Alfred in such a massive production.

Get Out

Jordan Peele has not only responded in his own way to the movie’s categorization as a comedy by the HFPA but also crashed a college course that was discussing the film.

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

Picking Up the Spare: Marshall, Suburbicon, Thor

Marshall

The movie continues to win praise from those who know Thurgood Marshall for how accurate it is to the man and the events it depicts.

Suburbicon

George Clooney continues to talk about how he took a languishing Coen Brothers script and tried to make it a bit more relevant.

Thor: Ragnarok

Another profile here of Tessa Thompson, who’s continuing to enjoy a breakout into the mainstream even though that moment really should have happened last year with her performance in Creed.

Mother

The resurgence of Michelle Pfieffer continues to be a focus of the press both in the wake of her performance in this movie and her upcoming appearances.

Lady Bird

More from Greta Gerwig here about how early her directorial aspirations began.

Laurie Metcalf and Tracy Letts, who play the parents of the title character, talk about their history in the theater and working together on this film here.

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

Lady Bird – Marketing Recap

Greta Gerwig has been a force in filmmaking for a number of years now as both an actor and writer. With this week’s Lady Bird she expands into directing as she tells the story of a young woman in 2002 trying to figure out who she is and be true to that.

Satires Ronan stars as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson. She and her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf) are too alike to ever really agree on anything. Christine is going through the usual uncertainty about identity, maturity and religion that are common to young adulthood as she butts heads with her mom, deals with her father’s job loss and more.

The Posters

The first poster doesn’t feature any of the cast, at least not their pictures. All their names are here to show off the strength of the ensemble, those names appearing between a cross with a bird perched on the top and the title treatment that’s shown in a very stylized font. Those elements – the title, the cross and the stained-glass border around the whole thing convey that religion will likely play a big role in the story.

The second poster puts Ronan in profile. The same sort of emphasis on religion is made both through the continued use of the stained glass border seen on the first poster and the cross that hangs on the wall in the background of the photo.

The Trailers

The mother/daughter dynamic is what opens the first trailer, which shows just how much Lady Bird wants to accomplish and how she’s trying to create a unique identity for herself. She’s rebelling against the ideas her mom has for her and clashes between the two is a constant theme. They love each other and can’t stand each other, which makes the usual drama of growing up just a bit more difficult.

Well that’s just fantastic. It looks like Gerwig has crafted a strong story of family dynamics that has a sensitive touch and characters you want to succeed who are brought to life with a couple great performances.

Online and Social

The official website opens with a bit of video that, when clicked, plays the trailer, which is absolutely worth watching again. That’s actually about it on the site with the exception of links to the movie’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter profiles. A24’s page about the film has a synopsis and the theatrical poster, but even with that there’s not a whole lot going on online.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

Nothing that I’ve come across, though there may have been some targeted advertising done in New York and L.A. in advance of the movie releasing there.

Media and Publicity

The first real news of the movie came when A24 picked it up and announced intentions to give it an awards season release. The movie was announced as one of those that would screen at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as the New York Film Festival and Telluride. A little while later EW shared the first photos from the film.

Those Telluride screenings created a lot of positive buzz for just about everyone involved, from Gerwig to Metcalf to Ronan, all of whom were praised for their contributions and/or performances. While there Gerwig talked about not only stepping behind the camera for the first time but the process of casting just the right people to tell a story that has more than a few personal connections. She also joked about the backstory of Dave Matthews Band’s inclusion in the movie. The positive buzz kept growing in the wake of its NYFF screenings, which were very successful.

Gerwig was given the ability to program a series of films at NYC’s Quad Cinema that made up her inspiration for this story and more. She was also the subject of another in-depth profile that covered not only her career to date and the controversy and buzz that’s followed her over the years but also her personal beliefs, her confidence in taking on the role of director and much more.

Overall

It’s obvious that A24 has let Gerwig take the lead in the publicity and press aspect of the campaign, likely because she’s almost completely absent from the official marketing elements. That’s a strong decision because of her charm and respect among filmgoers who have found many of her performances to be among the best of whatever year they were released. This is a big moment in her career and so she’s been given the spotlight.

As for the movie itself, it looks funny and heartwarming and insightful, all traits it’s easy to associate with Gerwig. Ronan seems to be giving a strong and grounded performance as a young woman who doesn’t know when to push away from her family and when to pull them closer and, from a general audience point of view, provides a strong reason to see the film. Metcalf can’t go unmentioned either as the mother who just wants to help her daughter succeed. If this can find the right people it’s easy to see this becoming a crossover mainstream word-of-mouth hit.

PICKING UP THE SPARE

Amazon promoted the movie’s availability on its streaming service with a Father’s Day clip featuring some of Tracy Letts’ wonderfully-delivered lines from the movie.