Let's say you've got a violent, bone-bleak survival drama starring Viggo Mortensen. When it comes to cutting a trailer that'll draw an audience for such a film, a little advertising sleight-of-hand is to be expected. But have the Weinsteins gone too far in their attempt to sell The Road?
Esquire hinted at director John Hillcoat's displeasure with the trailer he'd seen, which attempts to turn an intimate, downbeat drama into a Day After Tomorrow-style thrill ride. Now, with that version finally released, you can be the grumbling judge:
As The Playlist notes, that news coverage? That footage of disasters? That explosion at the end of the trailer? Those are things that, oh, aren't actually in the movie.
Now, to be fair, there's more of the film's grim tone in this clip than I might have expected the Weinsteins to include, even if they attempt to buffer it with as many shots they can muster up of Charlize Theron (in a small role that seems much bigger here). Still, I've seen far more misleading ad campaigns from the brothers W -- so many, in fact, that I can watch a trailer like this and think, "Well, it doesn't have the pullquote 'SEXY!' from Peter Travers, so...integrity?" Call me when the one-sheet in the papers is a picture of a smiling, shaven Viggo with his arm wrapped around Charlize, taken in soft focus at Smashbox Studios. Oh, you only think I'm joking.
VERDICT: Where's the tidal wave bearing down on Jake Gyllenhaal?
ยท Esquire Wasn't Kidding- Trailer For 'The Road' Tries To Sell Us Totally Fairly Different Movie [The Playlist]