‘Jackass 2’ campaign is suitably stupid

I have to agree with Movie Marketing Madness that the marketing for Jackass 2 seems pointless. The poster doesn’t have the word Jackass in it. And the Web site is built around a silly gay-cruise-line theme showing director Jeff Tremaine and cinematographer Dimitry Elyashkevich embracing. The same image went up on a billboard in L.A. Here’s the director talking to MTV about it: “Tremaine: I had nothing to do with that billboard. In fact, I was probably just as surprised as anybody to see that stupid thing. MTV: It was a cut-and-paste image of you and cinematographer Dimitry Elyashkevich advertising a gay cruise. Tremaine: Johnny and the executive producers had some disposable cash, apparently, and they thought it would be funny. ... They made sure I saw it. We did a bit a long time ago called ‘The Convict’ where Knoxville was dressed like a convict in a hardware store trying to saw his handcuffs off. The bit was never allowed to be seen, because we didn’t do things by legal standards. So the producers told me that we were gonna go down and talk to the West Hollywood Police Department because they were considering letting us use that footage. It was all just a setup to get me down there to see that fucking billboard. MTV: How did people react to the billboard? Tremaine: I’ve heard from friends who think it’s just hilarious. They all love my tribal work tattoo and the nipple ring I’m sporting.” Of course, this kind of stupidity is probably the point.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

May 24, 2006 | Permalink