A twisty and tasty movie-marketing pretzel

I've mentioned before how meta is the new thing in film and TV advertising. But no movie or show has gone quite as far as Tropic Thunder, which was swallowed up by a self-described "black hole of meta-ness." For those who haven't seen it, it's a movie about people making a movie (including Robert Downey Jr. as "a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude") which then becomes reality (see the trailer and the uncensored trailer). But while filming the movie about the making of a movie, they went on to make another fake movie about the making of the first movie. The resulting mockumentary, Rain of Madness, is now available free on iTunes (see trailer). So, we're three layers in, right? Then they go on to make an actual viral campaign about the making of a fake viral campaign for their movie about making a movie (see video). And the shenanigans won't end anytime soon. Justin Theroux, director of Rain of Madness, says they have enough footage to make a real documentary about the making of the fake documentary about the making of the movie about the making of a movie.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

September 2, 2008 in Cullers | Permalink