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July 1997, Week 2

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Subject:
From:
Alan Bell <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 8 Jul 1997 07:32:45 -0700
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OK, this is not exactly ethics with a capital "E" here, yet I wonder how
far this practice can be carried. I refer to movies that do NOT have scenes
that the trailers DO.
 
I just got home from Men in Black, so it's fresh in my mind. First of all,
I recall seeing not one, but TWO different versions of the same dialog in
trailers for this film. You'll recall when Smith & Jones (now THERE'S a
coupla high powered movie-star names for ya!) pull out these huge, high
tech blunder-buss weapons and Smith asks, "You know how to use these?" To
which deadpan Jones replies, "No idea whatsoever."
 
All right, in the movie, as they pull out the guns, I'm thinking, which
version did they use in the movie, inasmuch as there are TWO versions in
different trailers. And the answer is (TA DAAHHH) -- NEITHER! The dialog
does not appear in the film at all!
 
It also happened with Romy and Michele a couple of months ago. The trailer
had a scene with the Lisa Kudrow character (I can't remember which one she
was) confonting some old classmates and not realizing that they were
pregnant (or was it just one, I don't recall). But the line she used in the
trailer was not used in that film either.
 
Now, I suppose trailers are being cut before the movie is finished, or at
least while it's being fine tuned. Still, I don't recall seeing this
before, certainly not twice in two or three months. Perhaps this is simply
a reflection of shortened deadlines?
 
As I say, I don't expect any theses on the ethics of this to be written. I
promise not to lose a wink of sleep over it. Still, is anyone else the
slightest bit bothered by this trend?
 
BTW, MIB IAFM.
 
____________________________________________________________
ALAN BELL Santa Rosa, California
============================================================
British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
                                -- Actual newspaper headline
 
----
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