Celebrity Guest-Blogging: 'The Nines' director John August takes us behind the scenes
Jul 27, 2007, 05:06 PM | by Whitney Pastorek
Categories: Advertising, Film
Whitney Pastorek asked me (pictured) to write up a bit about the process of
releasing a movie, in particular a Sundance indie with more street
cred than marketing dollars. Over the next four weeks, I'll be
checking in occasionally with updates about the marketing, the
junket, and our upcoming trip to the Venice Film Festival, where
we'll be the sole American entry in Critics' Week. (Thanks. We're
very excited.)
I directed a movie called The Nines, which comes out August 31st. I also wrote it, but I've written a lot of other movies, and no one asked me to guest-blog on EW.com about those, so I'm guessing it's the "director" part of writer-director that gets people fired up.
Best I can figure, the hierarchy of publicity-worthiness for a movie release is roughly as follows:
1. Star
2. Not-quite-star, but recognizable
3. Any other actor
4. Director
16. Screenwriter
17. Producer
Yes, I skipped 12 steps there. So did Lohan. (rimshot, followed by shame)
[After the jump, John pursues an elusive Regis.]
I guess I'll start by pulling back the curtain on press reactions.
As a mere screenwriter, I always assumed that it was largely a mystery what journalists were going to say about the movie in their magazines and newspapers. Now that I'm cc'd on the publicity e-mails, I realize how wrong I was. Every few days, there's a 10-page Word document with an updated listing of who's seen the movie, and (often) what they thought.
For example, I can see that Nikia Dawkins from Zink magazine watched the movie on July 23. I don't know who that is, or what magazine that is, but I can now obsess about his/her opinion until the next updated e-mail.
This document also shows our progress on booking our stars (Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy, and Elle Fanning) on various talk shows. From this I know that Live with Regis and Kelly is dark from Aug. 16 to Sept. 4, so we'll get back to them with alternate dates.
Now I'm wondering what Regis is up to. I hope he's enjoying his vacation, and I hope the fact that he's not chatting up Hope or Melissa isn't weighing too heavily on him.
In other news, the person hired to build the official website (lookforthenines.com) flipped out and quit via e-mail, so it's now back in my hands. It's running, though, with forums ready to provoke and answer your questions. Such as, "Why does Regis need such a long vacation? His job isn't that hard."
Have questions for John about the magic of Hollywood? Leave 'em in the comments, and we'll pass them along. Here at PopWatch, we strive to educate as well as amuse. Also, don't forget to check in over at johnaugust.com, where you can see clips from The Nines, learn about his upcoming trailer competition, and read an irate letter from an air duct, among other things.
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