There is no such thing as bad publicity, or so the old expression goes. So when celebrities do incredibly strange things at the premieres for their movies, it’s not so shocking. We live in a world where Facebook has its own ‘viral’ section now, and recently, Ben Stiller put this to good use by breaking the world record for the ‘longest selfie stick’ at the Zoolander 2 premiere. Apart from making me a bit sick to my stomach, I can understand that going to lengths such as that can keep you relevant in the public consciousness that bit longer, but it’s probably not going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, sending me running to the cinema to watch what is pretty much a cash-in before people forget about an old joke. A cash-in that doesn’t look like it’s working either, as it’s currently sitting at about 23% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch.
“Zac Efron once dropped a condom on the red carpet during the premiere for The Lorax”
Regardless, Stiller isn’t the only one to pull a quick stunt to get an extra few punters through the door, and there have been some very interesting events unfolding at movie premieres which are dying for a bit more publicity. Steve-O, of Jackass fame, decided to just go ahead and urinate all over the red carpet, not in a statement against the film industry or anything with an inch of thought, no, he just wanted to wee on the carpet. This is probably the weirdest one for me because, having seen and enjoyed the Jackass movies, it is incredibly tame in comparison to most of the things they do in the film. He should’ve gone all out and recreated the Poocano if he wanted to get my head through the door. Weeing on the red carpet should not be the benchmark of publicity for a film like that.
“Stiller isn’t the only one to pull a quick stunt to get an extra few punters through the door, and there have been some very interesting events unfolding at movie premieres which are dying for a bit more publicity”
Zac Efron once dropped a condom on the red carpet during the premiere for The Lorax. Now this I think was less about the film and more about his image. We’re talking about a Zac that had just finished his High School Musical tenure, and he probably wanted to give himself a bit more of a bad boy image and prevent some typecasting. Probably not the best place to do it though, at a premiere for a kid’s movie. Good going Troy. Shia LaBeouf also arrived at the premiere of Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac wearing a paper bag with the words “I Am Not Famous Anymore” scrawled across it. This was just after Shia announced that he was quote unquote retiring from public life, so turning up to a premiere with a bag on your head was of course the right thing to do. Because that’s not something the public will talk about. But hey, it was a better performance than Transformers, so I’m not complaining.
It’s all a bit concerning really, in the sense of, where do we go from here? When will the buck stop? Real mutated Kaiju at the 10 Cloverfield Lane premiere? Robert Downey Jr floating down to the Civil War red carpet in his very own tech suit? I don’t know, but colour me interested, these stunts aren’t harming anyone.