Remember watching 12 Years A Slave, the harrowing account of a free black man's experiences as a slave in pre-Civil War Louisiana? And remember how, about four-fifths through the movie, Brad Pitt shows up for one scene as a kindly drifter and it was like: 'This is sort of weird. What's Brad Pitt doing in this movie?' Well, Mr. Pitt made such an impression that BIM Distribuzione, the company responsible for marketing the movie in Italy, created posters giving Pitt top billing and featuring his head framed front and center, back-lit by a dappled mid-afternoon sky. Chiwetel Ejiofor, the film's star, is relegated to the right-hand corner. For good measure, the distributor also created a poster giving top billing and prime poster real estate space to Michael Fassbender, who plays Ejiofor's abusive owner.
After making their debut at Italy's Capri Hollywood Film Festival last month, the posters went on to quickly offend people. BIM Distribuzione has since recalled the posters and issued an apology. "We apologize for creating and releasing unauthorized posters for 12 Years A Slave in Italy featuring Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender in a manner inconsistent with approved advertising materials... We are very proud of the film and regret any distraction this incident may have caused."
12 Years A Slave will be officially released in Italy on February 20, 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment