Ok, a thought after having watched the “Slumdog Millionaire” trailer. Without getting too pissed about it, one can’t help but feel slightly annoyed at “The Wrestler.” It’s another Fox Searchlight film which they’re probably pushing harder because of Mickey Rourke and its Oscar chances (which frankly, outside Rourke aren’t exactly amazing), and we liked the film and all, but it’s not as good as ‘Slumdog’ (though it is admittedly oranges and apples, but if we had to choose…). One can’t help but thing the rush-job (which includes a haphazard poster and not the greatest trailer on earth, not bad either, but…) for Danny Boyle’s film is not only because of Searchlight’s last minute acquisition of the film (which included a rapid, turn-around date of November 12), but because their key resources are probably moving towards Darren Aronofsky’s film which is inadvertently shortchanging ‘Slumdog.’
It’s a minor quibble and probably one that comes out of economic results, plus it makes sense – “The Wrestler” is probably going to speak to mainstream, English-speaking audiences in a way that Boyle’s film can’t (it’s 40% Hindi, 60% English, is set in India and features no well-known stars), but we can’t help but be a little bummed about that prospect. Still Foxlight admirably does a great job of pushing indies into the mainstream and we dug both films, so there’s no hate there. We’re just hoping all their eggs don’t have to go in one basket. But something to think about, the economy is fucking up everyone’s world, including the film one. Still, we hope to see Danny Boyle and ‘Slumdog’ at the Oscars.
I think you’re jumping the gun on this one… There aren’t any promos or marketing for The Wrestler at all yet – so it’s hard to make any claims about the differences in the marketing for these two films.
Slumdog is a November film that will expand very wide before The Wrestler even hits theaters. Its got a LOT of festival buzz and some solid marketing. I know people on my site LOVED the trailer. They literally picked up that film one WEEK before it premiered at Telluride (this is accurate) and started figuring out how to market it then. It’s a tough sell, but they’ve done a great job building buzz so far.
As for The Wrestler, they literally picked up THAT film during Toronto (a few weeks after they picked up Slumdog). This also has festival buzz but is an entirely different thing. I actually think it’s HARDER to sell Wrestler than it is Slumdog – mainly because Wrestler is about prof. wrestling which most people quick to ignore, since the sport itself is a bit lame. I mean that on the “surface,” because obviously the movie is fantastic, but I’ll be very curious to see how they sell it. They’ve still got time to build this one up – since it’s a December film, though.
Anyway, my point is that I think you’re being a bit too hasty with your thoughts when really we should be waiting to see what happens with The Wrestler and supporting both films individually. Fox Searchlight knows what they’re doing – both will be big hits, I’m damn sure of that!
It’s raising a question, much more than it is a declaration of anything. It’s more of a worry piece if anything. But yes, we’ll see what happens. I think the writer agrees that Fox Searchlight is great.
Marisa Tomei shows off her stuff in The Wrestler, so no – I don’t think this will be a harder sell