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The Folks at the Weinstein Company Should be Ashamed of Themselves

November 10, 2009
Wendie
Uncategorized
20 Comments

Oftentimes I’ll put up a heading that makes you wonder what the article is truly about.  Not today.  Today is a day for blatant statements.

Colin Firth is the star of an upcoming film titled The Single Man.  This is Tom Ford’s — yes, designer Tom Ford — directorial debut and he’s responsible for Trailer #1.  The Weinstein Company is responsible for trailer #2 in which they basically threw visual bleach over the entire preview.  It tells a completely different story of the film; almost all references to homosexuality have been replaced by movie critic quotes.  People who only ever see the second trailer are going to be in for a big surprise when they get to the theater.

Are we still living in a day and age where we have to protect the public from two men kissing?  What the fuck is wrong with Hollywood and how did Tom Ford, a gay man, allow this to happen to his movie?

20 CommentsLeave a comment

  • If you’ve only seen the second trailer, why go to the movie in the first place? It’s a crappy trailer, for God’s sake!

  • that second one definitely removes the intrigue of the storyline. the only reason someone would go see that movie is because the critics are telling them too. lame sauce. that said, from the first trailer, i think it looks fabulous. even if the acting and story falls flat it will be ,at the very least, visually stunning.

  • it’s pretty much the same trailer minus two men seen kissing..you made it sound like the a story in the last trailer that was completley different.
    Neither of the trailers tells a story, they both just gets you visually interested.

  • honestly, both trailers are pretty crappy. did it cross your mind that the weinstein company was just creating a trailer that would appeal to a larger audience? why is it a surprise to you that homophobia still exists? I have seen no evidence to the contrary…

    • i agree with you…not to mention the fact that if they can get someone in the theater unaware it revolves around a gay man and then hopefully push their point of view on homosexuality you could see the second trailer as actually being more thought out, smarter even…appealing to a wider audience that may be opposed to seeing it and then be won over.

      Although I see that not being realistic due to the intriguing and mysterious nature of both trailers. Anyone going to see this will have already googled the plot or heard from a friend.

      Sometimes I think this website is run by 3rd graders…but then I read it so what does that make me? :)

  • Do people actually make the decision to go to the movies entirely based on one trailer? As soon as you look slightly deeper into what the movie is about, you know what you’re getting. “De-gayification” is probably less the deciding factor here than the need to play up the critical acclaim. Sure the second trailer is lame, if only because I know I’d enjoy seeing Colin Firth macking on a hot young guy, but it also kind of adds mystique.

  • If you’re so desperate to watch two men kissing, you should just hang out with Tom Cruise and Will Smith.

  • They were both awful and neither did anything to make me want to go see the movie. I don’t even really get what the movie is supposed to be about…

  • I think it’s pretty ridiculous that the kiss was removed. I mean couldn’t they put the critic’s review up during ohhhhh I don’t know the girl jumping around in the blue dress? I’m sure that has no relevance to the story. Stupid stupid stupid. Removing it may be more appealing to a straight audience but keeping it in there is sure to get a lot of the gays in there. Myself included.

  • I like you Wendie, I really do..People say you are a bit– sometimes, i just think you are up front.
    But… you are still young and have too much faith in human kind.. Too bad.. This is reality. We live in a homophobic & SEXIST society, no matter what anyone tells you.
    I live in NYC, I’m 45 and I’m a single mother. I get strange looks & questions from assholes as to why I’m not married. Hello?? I am the sole supporter of my child and myself, i dio really well, thank you & yes, MY Gd, I’m a woman and not a hooker. Welcome to the 21st century. Sexism, Homophobia, etc, is still very much alive, even in a city like NY so imagine the rest of the country. Hollywood is about the dollar and if taking out a kiss insures more dollars in the theatre, then believe it, that kiss is out.

  • I think both trailers are pretty bad. What with the music and image after image after image, they seem more like drawn-out commercials than trailers. It’s too bad because the movie itself seems very good and Jullianne Moore and Colin Firth are very commendable actors.

    As for the removal of the homosexual undertones in the second trailer, it seems a shame because the Brokeback Mountain trailer made it very clear what the movie was about and, as far as I know, it did very well in the box office. Who knows if the Weinstein Company believes Hollywood is homophobic but I find the first trailer to be more appealing than the second.

  • Why would you think Tom Ford has any say in how his movie is advertised? A first-time director in Hollywood has very little clout. I used to work for a producer who liked to brag in interviews that he always used first-time directors in order to “nurture new talent”. What he really liked was being able to remain in firm control of his projects from start to finish. First-time directors have no box office track record and are far less likely to argue — and even when they do make a stand for their vision they rarely ever win because their contract is heavily weighted against them in the studio’s favor. Sure, the director always has the option of making a big stink in the press, like Tony Kaye did when he lost control of “American History X” to Ed Norton (whom the studio sided with), but the studios wouldn’t have anything to do with Kaye for years after that.

    So this trailer business? It’s frustrating, but it’s also SOP for Hollywood.

  • They already ruined Project Runway by taking it to Lifetime so they have been on my shit-list for a while now.

  • Didn’t you hear the Weinstein’s do this all the time? The first trailer for The Road made it look like a disaster film, and since the book does not actually tell you what caused the Earth to die, they just went ahead and made that up in their little heads. Harvey Weinstein takes control of most of the push for Film prizes and is hated because of his strong arm tactics so this couldn’t be a surprise for Tom Ford, I’m quite surprised they even allowed Tom Ford his own trailer. It’s all about Harvey.