Kelraz Bladesinger
09-27-2006, 11:38 PM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=404852&in_page_id=1770
This is quite the phenomenon and I really think its worth talking about. I have to wonder if anyone can honestly say they haven't heard of Borat Sagdiyev.
I've been shooting a lot of the behind the scenes features for the Die Hard 4 movie and we got a call from the publicist telling us that we wouldn't be reporting to the set tomorrow but instead we had to go cover a press conference at the White House. Why does a publicist care about the White House? Because Sasha Baron Cohen is holding a press conference in character as Borat to condemn his own movie of course. Cohen was able to completely alter Bruce Willis' schedule and they decided to shoot purely exterior car crashes all day tomorrow since the behind the scenes crew wouldn't be there anymore. That in itself has to lend some sort of insight into the power of the viral advertising.
Basically, the Kazakstani (if thats even how its spelled) government is so outraged about this film that they've tried to have George Bush mediate peace talks about the film which I believe start tomorrow (hence the presser). Cohen hasn't spent a dime on advertising for his film because all of the news networks are doing it for him. Every time Kazakstan tries to quiet him, he stands up as Borat and agrees with them saying "Since the 2003 Tuleyakiv reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world. Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats, and age of consent has been raised to eight years old." Has there ever been a film the President of the United States has discussed to this length in public, let alone mediated with a foreign nation over its rights to be shown in the country?
Tomorrow apparently the New York Times is going to run a 4 page spread by Kazakhstan condeming the movie. I'd love to see a copy and if anyone can scan it that'd be awesome.
On one hand I personally think its pretty amazing what word of mouth can do anymore, and its great that it puts the power back into the hands of the consumers instead of the studios - films like Napoleon Dynamite and Crash which cost next to nothing to make were successes overnight because they were good, not because they cost a lot. But on the other side, its scary that we're catering to the shock jock / fear factor / crocodile hunter media craze. Making another country hate us over a film is like wrestling with a crocodile ... eventually it'll become the norm and you'll have to think of something more extreme. Every day folks have to push the envelope further and further - will films all have to create international incidents to be appreciated?
This is quite the phenomenon and I really think its worth talking about. I have to wonder if anyone can honestly say they haven't heard of Borat Sagdiyev.
I've been shooting a lot of the behind the scenes features for the Die Hard 4 movie and we got a call from the publicist telling us that we wouldn't be reporting to the set tomorrow but instead we had to go cover a press conference at the White House. Why does a publicist care about the White House? Because Sasha Baron Cohen is holding a press conference in character as Borat to condemn his own movie of course. Cohen was able to completely alter Bruce Willis' schedule and they decided to shoot purely exterior car crashes all day tomorrow since the behind the scenes crew wouldn't be there anymore. That in itself has to lend some sort of insight into the power of the viral advertising.
Basically, the Kazakstani (if thats even how its spelled) government is so outraged about this film that they've tried to have George Bush mediate peace talks about the film which I believe start tomorrow (hence the presser). Cohen hasn't spent a dime on advertising for his film because all of the news networks are doing it for him. Every time Kazakstan tries to quiet him, he stands up as Borat and agrees with them saying "Since the 2003 Tuleyakiv reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world. Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats, and age of consent has been raised to eight years old." Has there ever been a film the President of the United States has discussed to this length in public, let alone mediated with a foreign nation over its rights to be shown in the country?
Tomorrow apparently the New York Times is going to run a 4 page spread by Kazakhstan condeming the movie. I'd love to see a copy and if anyone can scan it that'd be awesome.
On one hand I personally think its pretty amazing what word of mouth can do anymore, and its great that it puts the power back into the hands of the consumers instead of the studios - films like Napoleon Dynamite and Crash which cost next to nothing to make were successes overnight because they were good, not because they cost a lot. But on the other side, its scary that we're catering to the shock jock / fear factor / crocodile hunter media craze. Making another country hate us over a film is like wrestling with a crocodile ... eventually it'll become the norm and you'll have to think of something more extreme. Every day folks have to push the envelope further and further - will films all have to create international incidents to be appreciated?