The importance of a winning film title
Denzel Washington
What’s in a name? Well, with films it seems to be one of the most important ingredients, especially when it comes to fuelling critics’ mockery.
Rumour has it that due to budgetary concerns director and producer Tony Scott’s latest film, Unstoppable, starring Denzel Washington, may not be quite as unstoppable as he hoped.
If so, it is yet another big name, mid-budget production to be delayed, put into turn-around or quashed. It’s not good news. But at least we can find some comic relief by giving a thought to what sells a film first: the title.
The old saying goes that “a good horse is never a bad colour”, but as Brad Pitt/Steven Soderburgh’s Moneywise was pulled within days of actual production, any snide title irony speaks the truth: Columbia Studio head Amy Pascal said: “That’s too expensive for what I ordered!” and sent the film back to the kitchen.
With this trend, film titles will have to tread more carefully than ever. Critics have always taken cheap shots, but we remember the best: Walter Kerr stating of I Am A Camera: “Me no Leica” and Mort Sahl’s review of Ben-Hur: “Loved him. Hated Hur.”
Amid all of the doom and gloom (what is the world coming to when Brad Pitt can’t open a movie?) we may as well cheer ourselves up at Hollywood’s expense. Heavens, knows it’s been doing it to us for years.
So, we can play a game: what if ‘Wanted’ hadn’t been? (Happily it was, grossing $134m.) What if you had had to drink XXX to see XXX? Filmmaking requires big cojones and a title to match.
There’s Botched, of course, and Less Than Zero but few films want to be less than utterly self-confident. Still, we shall wait and watch if ‘Love Happens’ reminds us that ‘other’ stuff happens too. Or if Vince Vaughn’s ‘Couples Retreat’ actually describes its effect on the box office.
But at least these films were written, developed, made, scheduled, marketed, distributed and given a memorable title - a process some nascent films won’t live to see.
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