So I saw this first poster for Whiteout LONG ago, and thought it looked pretty badass. It got my hopes up a bit that they might not botch the translation to film.
Then I saw the trailer and thought it looked pretty “eh”
Then I realized they recast the other lead female role to be a man and I said “F U Hollywood. Why you messing with awesome shit that already WORKS!?!”
THEN, just yesterday I saw a NEW poster for the film and my heart when all pitter pat, pitter pat. They did SUCH a good job emulating the badass Frank Miller Whiteout TPB cover. Check it out:
Nice – right?!
Man, I’m such a sucker for things that look good.
There’s also this poster, which I think is mostly great. It’d be better if you could tell the figure is a woman – although that’s tough to do in a parka…
And then there’s this new one, which is mostly blech. I mean, it’s very pretty (Kate Beckinsale IS very pretty – it’s hard to hide that kind of prettiness) and the effect of the ice is nice – but it so doesn’t speak to the strong visuals that already exist for this book – and it doesn’t really give you any clue what the movie is about – so why make something so ordinary and non-impactful…? I guess just because we’ve learned that people respond to pretty? Bah. I’m so bored with pretty.
Anyway, I don’t know if I’ll actually see this in the theater – so far as I can tell the score is dead even 3 points for, 3 points against. Anyone care to push me one direction or another?
5 comments
August 12, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Dave Hill
I give points for the Miller homage — but Beckinsale looks more frightened than determined in the pic. The rest is all seriously “meh” to me, and the trailer — yeah, ick.
The problem, I think, is that Beckinsale is *too* pretty. And they can’t pass up doing pretty pictures of her. And that’s so not the character (at least from the comic).
Unless I hear monstrously good word of mouth, I’ll be giving this a pass (which kills me, as I loved the original and Rucka’s work in general).
August 13, 2009 at 5:09 am
Brian Hahn
Hey Kelly!
I actually worked on this! we built an airplane interior for some pick up shots. I hated the job. Near the end of the job I stabbed myself in the palm with a #11 x-acto blade and wished I had done it sooner to get out of it. Rebecca just showed me your post about Walking Dead. A friend of ours has been lending us the comic and we are both hooked! We wonder how they can make it a show that is NOT so depressing that you end up not wanting to watch it. The comic walks that fine line so well.
Hope all is well you rockstar.
August 14, 2009 at 1:30 pm
1979semifinalist
Dave: You’re totally right…the poster is still not as good as it should/could be, but I’m still giving points for the Miller homage. Beckinsale is definitely too pretty for the role, but you know how it works – they’re never going to cast someone medium pretty when they can get super pretty. The good news is that though I don’t always love Beckinsale, she has turned in some pretty good performances (Laurel Canyon is a particular high point for me).
Also, that first teaser poster? Not that they uglied her up, but they did a nice thing where her jaw looked more real and less perfectly oval…it looked real. It looked like a woman that lives in the freaking wilderness and doesn’t wear any make up except chapstick. So I was intrigued. The last poster loses ALL of that. Big fail for me.
Brian: I’m sorry it was such a bummer to work on – but knowing that your genius hands touched it kind of gives it slightly more credibility…TWD is my absolute favorite – I’m so excited/worried. Prepare to cross fingers for like…eighteen months I guess
PS – saw Otto’s new picture on the website – almost died from the cuteness.
August 19, 2009 at 8:08 pm
bd
I’m about 90% sure that’s not supposed to be Beckinsale in the poster with the footsteps and parka.
August 20, 2009 at 1:03 am
1979semifinalist
bd: You think so? I guess it’s possible. But from Beckinsale’s being the only name on the posters, I just assumed they’d go with an image (or an assumed image) of her.