UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — “The Hunt” is again on. Solely this time Common Footage has designed a radically totally different advertising marketing c
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — “The Hunt” is again on. Solely this time Common Footage has designed a radically totally different advertising marketing campaign for the violent movie, which is ostensibly about liberal elites who kill conservative “rednecks” for sport.
Earlier than “The Hunt” was shelved final yr within the face of criticism, Common had began to market the movie as one thing it was not: a comparatively simple horror flick. Now the studio is hoping that an uncommon advertising tactic — forthrightness — will shield “The Hunt” from blowback earlier than its launch on March 13.
A brand new trailer, released on Tuesday, doesn’t attempt to boil down “The Hunt” to a single, salable style, which is the best way Hollywood often approaches movies. As an alternative it presents “The Hunt” as it’s — an absurdist satire that leaves no aspect of the political divide unscathed and is equal elements comedy, horror and thriller.
“Not one body was modified,” Jason Blum, who produced the movie with Damon Lindelof (“Misplaced,” “Watchmen”), mentioned in an interview. “That is precisely the identical film.”
“The Hunt,” starring the Emmy-nominated Betty Gilpin (Netflix’s “Glow”) and the two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, was presupposed to arrive in theaters in September. Trailers in July veiled the political side of the $15 million movie and made it resemble an entry within the Common’s dystopian “Purge” horror sequence. Common had not but screened “The Hunt” for movie reporters or critics.
Then 31 folks have been killed in back-to-back shootings in Texas and Ohio. The Hollywood Reporter published an article saying Common had pulled adverts for “The Hunt” in consequence. The article, primarily based on a replica of the script, additionally disclosed that the film revolved “round third-rail political themes” — notably elites stalking “deplorables.”
An outcry adopted, with conservative pundits criticizing the movie’s premise as “sick” and “awful.” Earlier than lengthy, President Trump alluded to “The Hunt” on Twitter, saying it was made by liberal Hollywood “to inflame and trigger chaos.”
Caught in a maelstrom, Common canceled the release, resulting in accusations of censorship.
Common, a division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast, mentioned on Tuesday that it will give the movie a large launch in theaters. It additionally invited a handful of reporters to its campus within the San Fernando Valley to look at “The Hunt” within the Alfred Hitchcock Constructing and talk about it afterward with Mr. Blum and Mr. Lindelof.
“We didn’t need to simply faux that nothing had ever occurred,” Mr. Blum mentioned.
Mr. Lindelof, who wrote the screenplay with Nick Cuse, mentioned “The Hunt” had been impressed by “Get Out,” the blockbuster comedic thriller, social satire and horror movie directed and written by Jordan Peele. (Mr. Blum was a producer.) It might be exhausting to imagine, however Mr. Lindelof insisted that he had by no means anticipated “The Hunt” to immediate political blowback, definitely not on a presidential degree.
“It didn’t strike me as third rail,” Mr. Lindelof mentioned of the movie. He added of Mr. Trump: “I want that he had seen it. The film he was speaking about was not the film I really feel that we made.”
“The Hunt” begins (spoiler warning) with a close-up shot of textual content messages on a cellphone. One reads, “Promise you received’t decide me?” The dialog is about killing “deplorables” for sport. The dialogue appears severe. Or is it in jest, albeit in very poor style?
The movie, directed by Craig Zobel, whose credit embody the well-reviewed 2015 thriller “Z for Zachariah,” then introduces the unlikable elites. One snootily rejects the caviar supplied to him by an attendant on a non-public jet. He would favor figs. There aren’t any? Sigh. Champagne should suffice.
A dozen strangers then get up in a clearing within the woods. All are overt stereotypes. A lady from Wyoming rocks a spectacular mullet. One older man wears a beige fishing shirt and a navy cap.
The liberal elites then start the slaughter. “For the document, local weather change is actual!” one shrieks earlier than blowing up a sufferer.
Then one of many folks being hunted turns the tables, selecting off the killers one after the other till solely the ringleader stays. Slaying the liberals is just not terribly troublesome: They’re simply distracted — bickering with each other over politically right language, squealing in delight when the progressive filmmaker Ava DuVernay likes a social media submit about their volunteer work in Haiti.
By the tip of the R-rated movie, the story has included a paramilitary unit in Croatia, a darkish web conspiracy principle, a killing by stiletto pump and a pig sporting a T-shirt.
“As anybody who has seen the film can attest, it’s all so excessive and absurd,” Mr. Lindelof mentioned. “It’s attainable that individuals will see this film and say it’s irresponsible or is a name to violence. However the morality of the film” — who’s left standing on the finish — “has at all times felt very…