At the premiere for Zack and Miri Make a Porno, executive producer Harvey Weinstein talked to Bill Higgins from Variety and had this to say about how difficult it’s been promoting the movie:
Aside from billboards and TV stations that won’t accept “porno” in ads, Weinstein said, “It’s a mountain to climb with female audiences. It’s a controversy we didn’t want. We wanted a mainstream Seth Rogan/Elizabeth Banks movie.”
To which I call bullshit, especially after reading director Kevin Smith’s quote from the after-party in the same article: “Harvey greenlit the movie on the title.”
Did it ever occur to anyone at the studio to think about the marketing problems and devise a way to work around them without compromising the identity of the film, like, the instant you signed the contract?
Also? Can you please stop talking about the “female audience” like we’re one big hive vagina who only likes sweet romantic comedies, Broadway musicals, and love stories? Alright, I do like those things, but I also like kick-ass fight scenes, watching buildings get blown up, sword fights. Oh, I could go on this topic for days…
The sheer obliviousness of some Hollywood executives makes me wonder if we’re even living in the same society.