The first poster anywhere for Ricky Gervais’ next big screen comedy (but his first as a writer/actor/director) has premiered in The Sun, leaving me with the same gut reaction that I had with the promotion of Ghost Town. It looks like fluffly watered down crap that I won’t like.
Am I forever destined to hate any trailers/posters for anything this man does, then subsequently fall unashamedly in love with the work he has produced when I see it in full, where inevitably it then becomes one of my favs and most watched of the year? Probably. It’s just the way it works with Gervais. His genius is difficult to promote.
I take solace in the fact that I loved the script when I read it a while back and when it was called the much more enticing This Side of the Truth. I think Gervais couldn’t have cast the movie better with career-defining roles for Jennifer Garner, and Rob Lowe. They are pitch perfect. If you were to read the script and cast the movie yourself, you would pick those two. I’m sure he wrote the parts for them both.
Also he has a cool, and mostly original premise. Just the poster reminds me of awful things. Things I don’t need to be reminded of…
One Comment
I have to agree with what you’ve said. The poster’s for The Invention of Lying and Ghost Town wouldn’t have attracted me to them were I not already a huge Gervais fan.
That said however, I suspect that is probably the point. Fan’s of Gervais will probably already be aware of the film and will go and see it anyway. The poster’s are presumably generated for those audiences that aren’t aware of his work but probably flocked to see the likes of ‘Liar, Liar’ and ‘Yes Man’, probably not Gervais’s preferred audience, yet I’ve no doubt he’s aware of their international success, and with the financiers to also think about, their box office returns.
Can’t wait for the film to come out though, I think it will have the feel of ‘Groundhog Day’ with the observation and wit of the office.