Tough Marketing Calls for a Film Linked to War
Five years after the invasion of Iraq, the toll of war-related movies that have proved disappointments or outright duds just ticked higher, as audiences spurned “Stop-Loss” over the weekend, despite its hot young cast, an MTV-branded marketing campaign and some glowing reviews.
So how could a Hollywood studio possibly entice audiences into seeing the next one?
That’s the challenge awaiting Lionsgate, the distributor of “The Lucky Ones,” a new film directed by Neil Burger (“The Illusionist”) in which Rachel McAdams, Michael Peña and Tim Robbins play soldiers back from Iraq who go on a road trip that is both comical and poignant. And it’s the subject of a polite but intense struggle between the filmmakers and the studio over how to handle a movie that has already seen a couple of release dates discarded. After one Lionsgate executive wept while viewing an early cut in September, the studio briefly considered hurrying “The Lucky Ones” into theaters in time for an awards campaign.
But “In the Valley of Elah” opened soon after and sold less than $7 million in tickets during its entire run. “Rendition” and “Lions for Lambs” followed, faring only slightly better domestically, despite stars including Reese Witherspoon, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep. So the studio and filmmakers agreed it would be wiser to wait till spring.
Nearly six months later, however, the filmmakers are getting antsy. In interviews Mr. Burger and one of his producers, Rick Schwartz, said that Lionsgate seemed paralyzed — unsure how to position “The Lucky Ones” or how to contend with the undeniable fact that moviegoers have shown no appetite for movies about the war. . . .
In an interview in October Mr. Burger said that he had dreamed up the $14 million movie (which he wrote with Dirk Wittenborn) after returning from making “The Illusionist” in Prague in 2005, and being struck by how nastily the Iraq war was being debated here, whether by pundits on television or by his own family members.
He also said he was inspired by “The Last Detail,” the 1973 Hal Ashby film with Jack Nicholson and Otis Young as sailors escorting a petty thief to prison. “The Lucky Ones” shares its seriocomic mood, episodic structure and even a few plot points: an odd religious detour, an encounter with prostitutes, a brawl and much bonding. . . .
With the outspokenly antiwar Mr. Robbins in a starring role, “The Lucky Ones” is likely to engender criticism from the political right. But the film takes no position on the war. In fact, it is the first war-related Hollywood movie that the Army has fully supported with personnel, matériel and technical help, a military adviser confirmed.
Mr. Schwartz added that what sounded patriotic to some might strike others as more nuanced and ironic. “I’ve seen it play as a pure, middle-America road-trip film with heart, but there is the more sophisticated version,” he said. . . .
New York Times, April 2

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Glenn Kenny and Libertas respond to the article.