Funny People, Funny Business

Now for the bad news: Since most marketing gurus say “unaided awareness” is a more important data point (that’s when you tell the pollster that you are aware of a certain film coming out without being given the title), Basterds’ is very low.

Meanwhile, I’ve confirmed that InglouriousBasterds, to be released on August 21, is still the same length it was when it screened disastrously at Cannes. (Well, technically, it’s one minute longer now.) This was also confirmed when Basterds was shown as the closing film at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival.

One of the stars, Eli Roth, presented the film and addressed the various rumors about Tarantino’s edit, saying that Quentin had re-cut the version shown at Cannes. But during the six weeks, he’d also added various scenes.

FAN SHIT-STORM OVER ECLIPSE RECAST

Well, well, well ... Summit Entertainment thought it could get one over on the Twilight fans. After all, one red-headed actress is interchangeable with another, right?

But the studio’s gambit failed when Rachelle Lefevre, who was recast after starring in the franchise’s first two films, enlisted fan support against Summit when the studio hired Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard’s daughter) for the role ... ouch!

Here’s the problem: Once a studio lets the fans into the filmmaking process, it’s impossible to keep them out.

The studio has courted the Twilight fans ever since Summit saw 1,500 Twilight-ers lined up to meet Stephenie Meyer at a book-signing in Pasadena. It’s why Summit made the vampire romance into a movie when Paramount passed. It’s why the first film in what was to become the studio’s uber-valuable franchise succeeded.

But then things got hinky. When I broke the news that director Catherine Hardwicke was being replaced on the sequel, New Moon, fans were in an uproar. Eventually, they calmed down — but only because new pick Chris Weitz began talking directly to the Twilighters. And kept talking, ad nauseum. Few directors do that. Either they’re too arrogant to care, or they don’t want pander (which it is). But now Summit is stuck with a bunch of buttinskis who feel as if they have ownership in the franchise. They expect to be consulted about every decision.

There had been talk about recasting Taylor Lautner for New Moon because the part was brawnier and, by comparison, the actor was a pip-squeak. (He plays a 7-foot-tall werewolf.) But the fans rebelled. So, helped by a growth spurt and intensive training, Lautner held on to the role.

Now, like Hardwicke’s replacement, Lefevre’s ouster is a fait accompli without any fan input. And with the actress pushing back about being pushed out, it’s a PR nightmare for the studio.