I’m beginning to think Universal is having some serious tone issues with Charlie Wilson’s War.
A few weeks ago, we got our first look at Mike Nichols’s big December release about the titular Texas congressman’s vigorous efforts to fund the Mujahadeen’s jihad against the encroaching Soviet Union, and it looked… okay. Today, we get our first look at the film’s official one-sheet. It’s the shitty looking thing to your right. The one with Philip Seymour Hoffman bursting out of Tom Hanks chest.
There is still a vetting process for this stuff, right?
Again, it’s important not to read too much into Universal’s nascent, but nonetheless flailing marketing campaign for what was once considered (albeit, sight unseen) this year’s Best Picture frontrunner. Though there were rumors circulating last week about extensive reshoots and an out-of-control budget, Universal vehemently denied them. (Per the release: "It’s 100 percent false. There’s not even a portion of the claim that’s true.") Still, it’d be nice if the studio could slap together a confident trailer or a serviceable one-sheet – I saw one a couple of weeks ago that was much better than this – to support what will hopefully be an above-average take on a very dicey subject. Perhaps they could make the shooting script available online (as they’ve done with a number of their big awards contenders), as it’s easily one of the best things Aaron Sorkin has ever written. I mean, if marketing can’t get the job done, why not let the material go to work?