Thoughts I Had While Staring at… this Snowden Poster
Monday, May 2, 2016 at 9:16AM Manuel here. We did it last year when we got our first look at the poster for that other Joseph Gordon-Levitt biopic film (remember The Walk? No?) so let’s do the same with this new one sheet for the Oliver Stone flick about Edward Snowden after the jump...
- How many “Oliver Stone” mentions can you spot? (“3” is not the right the answer.) Is the director’s name even a draw anymore for moviegoers or critics anymore? At this point, isn’t he more associated with box office and critical misfires (Savages, W., Alexander) than with the great films that cemented his reputation (Wall Street, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July)?
- Perhaps not coincidentally, my mind immediately went to that lovely still image from Zero Dark Thirty where Chastain’s shadow was reflected off of the American flag. And now I’m wondering if Bigelow’s follow-up (on the 1967 Detroit riots) may be ready later this year, but perhaps that’s because I wish Nat would have more female directors to include in his Oscar predictions chart.
- Speaking of female directors, can this fictionalized narrative even measure up to Laura Poitras's CITIZENFOUR and her (I hear) amazing exhibit at the Whitney Museum, "Astro Noise" which covers more ground in terms of government surveillance? Better yet, can it survive as a film without getting entangled in the politics it will no doubt spouse?
- I can’t be the only one rooting for JGL, who nails Snowden’s tone and cadence in the film’s trailer (see below), but there’s no denying the fact that he’s had trouble translating his off-screen charm and charisma into a feature film career worthy of his talent. Might Snowden do the trick?
“The only safe place is on the run”
- Sometimes taglines work better in theory than in practice.
- I appreciate that Shailene gets equal billing (and she’s even featured in the poster if ever so obliquely) but do we think her role will be that of supportive partner? (My favorite description of such a role will always be Emma Thompson’s “'Please don't go and do that brave thing. Don't! No, no, no, no, no!”)
- The poster’s framing and color scheme reminded me of something but I can’t quite place it so I did a Google Image search:
...and well, maybe the answer was “Any other poster from the past decade with slate blue hues”?
In case you wanted to take an extended look at JGL-as-Snowden, catch the trailer below. My favorite part? When Snowden gets his own Keira-in-Imitation Game moment:
What are everyone else’s thoughts? Is this another W. in the making?
Reader Comments (15)
Mr. Gordon-Levitt looks quite handsome in this poster. I'm a big fan, so I have high hopes for this. He won't have to do an accent so he's already ahead of the game.
Manuel: Just Savages. The difference between The Savages and Savages is like the difference between Room and The Room.
Volvagia: Trust The Lovely Laura Linney to worm her way into my mind to mischaracterize Stone's ill-begotten flick!
It looks interesting but I do not like his accent. Mannered?
Thanks for bringing up "Astro Noise" Manuel -- I had forgotten how smart and surprising that exhibit was! Sad that it ended yesterday and I didn't get back to it a second time.
I took a lot of (not so) guilty pleasure in the up-to-the-moment satire Stone created in "W." The frat boy George Bush, in over his head and ruining the world -- Stone tapped into that really well. I think he's best when he's doing a darkly comic take on his subjects -- like in "Natural Born Killers". I suspect "Snowden" won't have enough of that tone.
Volvagia - hilarious!
Nat: Biggest piece of bait that you're not tracking at all? Patriots Day, the Boston Marathon bombing film from Peter Berg. John Goodman's nod (he's the police commissioner), finally?
I find his affect in the trailer unbearable. All of these pieces on Snowden - not unlike Steve a Jobs - seems like too much too soon.
BD: Just watched and...he's nailed it 100%, but I can still see that as really annoying for an entire run time. I'm more of a fan of more lightly impersonated but recognizable spins (think John Cusack in The Butler vs Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon) than I think most are, and this is kind of why.
I wanted more Melissa Leo. I love Melissa Leo chewing the scenery.
Uh.... I don't think this is going to be any good. Honestly, Oliver Stone is just ugh these days. I really think he needs to retire because he just doesn't have it anymore.
I was just shocked from the trailer that this could be good as I haven't liked an Oliver Stone picture since JFK. I thought the film might have seemed redundant after CITIZENFOUR, but I am quietly optimistic about this now.
Joseph's career strategy of late seems to be 'do average feature films based on stories that have already won Best Documentary Oscars.' Let's hope he doesn't sign on to star in a Darlene Love biopic.
I'll more than likely pass on this one: Stone is a filmmaker I generally find unbearable, and I've really cooled on JGL over the past few years - though he can be really good in the right role, he strikes me as one of those people who likes himself far, far too much.