Fortunately, among Duncan's tweets: 'We'd never put a star like that in front of a dangerously explosive kinkos... its a stuntman.' And 'Jake is fantastic. I would work with him again any day.' There is also some good news that there will be more than one poster and DJ's making sure of one thing: 'Dont know about worldwide, but believe we will be working on something special for the UK.'
All this raises the question of what we want from a film poster, most especially when it's for a film with Jake Gyllenhaal in it. And so this post takes a trip through time, ala Source Code and Prince of Persia, to see how distributors have chosen to promote Jake's movies through the years, as Jake's fame has grown. And not just his fame either. As Fox and Disney understood, you have a star like Jake Gyllenhaal in your film, show him off. It wasn't always like that and it wasn't always Jake's face that got a look in (think Jarhead). If you like Jake in goggles, you're in luck.
So, let's open the door on the gallery of posters... See you at the end.
And so, which is your favourite? Does your opinion of a poster depend on what you think of the film? Posters can become iconic, of course, just take a look at the Brokeback Mountain poster. Posters don't need to feature Jake to stand out as dramatic works of art - the Zodiac poster, for instance - while others feature plenty of Jake but their message is lost - Rendition. Would you change the Source Code poster? And what will the 'special' version look like?
So many questions, so many posters from a career of almost 15 years!
Hi! First of all - WDW - Thank you for the pics of all those posters. I didn't know some of them.
ReplyDeleteI like the most - BBM poster - perfect and suits the movie.
Prince of Persia - great! I just can't believe that looking at that poster in my city in May, I didn't know Jake at all! It seems ages from now.
Brother's poster is OK - suits the movie.
I like very much "Highway" poster - a new for me. Jake's goggles look hilarious and Jared very handsome.
And Donnie Darko' poster I always liked - it has some mystery and something incredible in it.
And what do you think about that one? :)
LAOD-HP
Do you recognize them?
Hi Mermon! I'm glad you liked the posters - I really enjoyed getting these together. And some films have more than one but there are certain ones you just remember. The October Sky one is an alternative poster and I love it.
ReplyDeleteI love the Prince of Persia poster. Looking at it brings back some great memories from the summer. And seeing the Brokeback one, I remember seeing that at the theatres and wishing it would never leave.
Hi WDW! That's a great idea to show the progression of Jake's career through movie posters. I love the POP poster as well, and I'm also fond of Donnie Darko. I don't like the Rendition or Good Girl posters much at all.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Source Code poster, I think I'll have to reserve judgment until I see the movie. Posters don't always do their movies justice, but sometimes it's difficult to capture the essence of a film in a single graphic. Donnie Darko probably also presented similar difficulties for the poster designers. Since Duncan Jones doesn't like the poster, though, I'm inclined to think they could have done a better job with it. We'll just have to wait and see what the U.K. gets.
Susan
WDW - what a brainwave, to do this 'gallery'.
ReplyDeleteThe BBM poster is best IMHO, amazing how everything about that film came together!
The Darko poster, PoP and LAOD tie in 2nd for me, I just haven't the energy to choose. Highway's goggles make it to third - never seen that one, thanks!
I do like the October Sky one - that smile!
However, the Day after Tomorrow holds a special place in my heart. I think its because the film has just turned out to be so easy-to-watch ! Jake is almost only a bonus (gasp!). Just as a film poster, for the story impact etc - great! Likewise Zodiac, but not easy to watch that one!
Could do a gallery of DVD covers too, or a comparison..?
TD
I'm not quite sure I understand this,does this mean this poster is NOT going to be the final poster? Or will it be the US one and there will be another poster for the UK?
ReplyDeleteI love BBM, but for SC I would try to do something like TDAT, have the central theme of the movie played up. Takes place on a train and there is a time factor involved. Why not combine these two. Perhaps have the outside of a train in the background, with Jake on the inside of the train in the foreground and the 8 mins factor. Maybe a clock or stop watch with 8 mins on it. Since Colter only has 8 mins to fix things during each period of time he goes to.
Something along those lines.
sweetpea
I don't know why but this painting by Dali came to mind when I think about SC and the time factor
ReplyDeletehttp://jerkmag.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/the_persistence_of_memory_1931_salvador_dali.jpg
sweetpea
Hi Susan! Thanks :D I'm not keen on the Rendition poster myself. It would be interesting to see what Duncan would have come up with for the SC poster.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much TD! I totally agree about TDAT. That film is so special to me. When I see the poster now I remember how much I loved the film back in 2005. I saw it the day after the wedding of good friends of mine and we were chatting about it at the wedding! Love the idea for the DVD covers - I saw some of them doing this post and there are some horrors!
Hi Sweetpea! This looks like it's the US poster. The UK one will be different. I think something to do with a train would be great for SC. It's not just about explosions. Although I like the idea of shattered time. I see what you mean about Dali.
Morning all! Have a good day :D
ReplyDeleteThe Source Code poster doesn´t stand out to me, very average. I think the poster for Jarhead is very good because it looks different from the average war movie poster which fits because the movie isn´t a typical war movie. The poster for Zodiac looks creepy, as it should and I also think that the PoP poster manages to focus on what´s really important: Jake´s muscles. And then, of course, it´s the BBM poster. Iconic is the word.
ReplyDelete...and oh, I forgot, I do like the DD poster. The blue color is creepy and Jake looks even creepier. I miss the rabbit though.
ReplyDeleteHi there 14:32 :D I do agree about the Jarhead poster - definitely not your typical war movie poster. I love all of the Zodiac posters; very atmospheric. I was torn about which of the DDarko posters to post - the rabbit or the Jake one. But there are some interesting alternative posters about, as with the October Sky one. Really interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting :)
That Inception button was very funny. *lol* Thanks Duncan!
ReplyDeleteI like the atmosphere of the SC poster, but the elements are too small to work in the distance, e.g. on billboards, at bus stops etc. That's not gonna attract people's attention. I hope they'll make one with an intense close-up of Jake.
I'm biased when it comes to Jake's film posters, 'cause up till now the only two I've seen 'in real life' are LAOD and PoP. ;) But I remember the white Brothers artwork really standing out in the dvd shops when it got released. And the Zodiac one is beautifully done. Such a simple, iconic image and yet such atmosphere.
I don't need a TDAT poster. I look out my window, and my yard looks like a scene from that movie. Boston got more than a foot of snow last night. There's honestly nowhere left to put it. I was scraping snow off my roof the other day, but there's more there now than there was before.
ReplyDeleteThere are reports that they had to close the Statue of Liberty because there was too much snow on it. Remember the scene in TDAT where the statue is up to its waste in snow and ice? I thought of that immediately!
Here's a link to a site that gives photos of over-the-top snowfalls. I especially like the one with the caption "Snow being cleared from the Trans-Labrador Highway in northeastern Canada"
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2010/02/lots-of-snow.html
Hi!
ReplyDeleteDo you know that Jake shaved his beard few days ago? Nobody mentioned that before, so I paste the link to the site. Looks like Jake is not happy about the picture.
http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2011/01/jake-gyllenhaal-hides-his-newly-clean-shaven-face/
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI like Bubble Boy, Highway and LAOD posters very much. Regarding SC poster, I'm not sure... Kind of like when LAOD poster came out (apart from Jake's looks of course) we did not understand what was it all about. Maybe the same is happening with SC one.
I remember my first poster that I got from my local cinema that I really liked 'Pretty Woman' one. I had it hanging in my room for a long time, in fact till I married...He,he.
Something funny - a glimpse of Anne and James
ReplyDeleteAnne Hathaway and James Franco in First Oscars Promo (VIDEO)
Aren't they cute?
Hi Lady Ekster! I love that Inception button :D I do think the Brothers poster is striking, I like the white and the slightly askew images. I think the SC poster is too busy, really.
ReplyDeleteI hear you've had a huge amount of snow, Paul! Amazing. But I do hope it's easing off now. We've had milder weather and now the temperature's plummeting again.
Hey Mermon! I saw those but Jake so clearly doesn't want to be photographed I didn't want to include them in a post, but good to have a link :) Thanks so much for the Oscars link!
Hi there Eureka! There's definitely enough going on in the SC poster! I really am looking forward to getting to know Colter better :)
Sorry for the absence this evening - been off in an extremely crowded cinema seeing Black Swan at long last :D
I not a fan of the Source Code poster. I'm a bit nervous about that movie. It would be nice if Jake had an acclaimed movie again, it's been so long. We will see.
ReplyDeleteAnne Hathaway and James Franco in First Oscars Promo (VIDEO)
They sure will make attractive Oscar hosts. :)
I love this "poster post" WDW - it looks like a lot of work went into it gathering up all these gems! I agree that waiting for the movie before judging the SC poster is a good idea but at first look it felt like too much going on (I think you already said that!) and too little visual (meaning the 'explosion' bit is the main attraction and the pictures are so tiny you can't really get a feel for the characters). I always prefer BIG photos of Jake (of course!) but do agree posters like Zodiac really set the mood quite well.
ReplyDeleteEither way I'm looking forward to more SC stuff to come. It's all coming so fast now with the release date not too far off - yay! I'm still on a LAOD high so it's all good!
I read this from Paul and laughed out loud: "I don't need a TDAT poster. I look out my window, and my yard looks like a scene from that movie."!! Not because I think it's funny - I don't at all - I am so freaking sick of snow you have no idea! But this is so true Paul! There is literally no where to put all the snow we have in New England and if they don't start shipping it south soon we literally are going to be at a complete stand still here. UGH!
On a happier note - I love that Oscar promo with Anne and James - Thanks for sharing Mermon!
:-)
You are very welcome BBMISwear! :)
ReplyDelete@WDW -"I saw those but Jake so clearly doesn't want to be photographed I didn't want to include them in a post".
It so gentle of you, that's why I like to be here. I just feel that you really like Jake, care for him and not only run a blog.
I had the same feeling. I always feel uneasy seeing Jake turning back from paps and me watching his pics. That's why I didn't mentioned that before. But I just wanted to let know that Jake is shaven. Though I like his light beard.
Funny it's such a snowy winter in States. In Poland is quite warm as for the end of January and the snow is almost gone. And we used to have really heavy winters when I was a child.
I like those pics of winter from under Paulh' link. Just amazing!
Hi JF! I think Source Code could well fill that role. I love that video too!
ReplyDeleteHey BBMISwear :-) Ugh snow... Totally agree on your summing up on the posters. A lot of Jake is good but if you're not going to have a lot of Jake than something striking instead (like Zodiac) is good.
Mermon, that is a wonderful thing to say and I'm so grateful for you saying it. Thank you! I do care about Jake and I do really like him. I'm so glad that shows. I won't post anything just for the sake of it x
Just came across this video of the ever-lovely Mark Kermode reviewing LAOD
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAalIb_0JEs
(And I agree with the poster above - it's time for Jake to have another really acclaimed performance/ film)