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"Snakes" a pop-culture phenomenon — but will it bite? |
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Written by By Phoebe Flowers, MCT
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Thursday, 17 August 2006 |
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 It has been called many things.
The most anticipated event of the summer. Possessor of the greatest title in cinematic history. The best worst movie of the year. A cultural milestone. A cure for cancer.
(OK, so we made that last one up.)
Of course, almost no one has actually SEEN it yet. But when "Snakes on a Plane" finally hits theaters Friday, it will be after a full year of unprecedented hype, stemming almost entirely from an unlikely source: actual movie fans.
And yet, until a few months ago, the studio behind the movie didn't seem to comprehend this goldmine of free publicity.
From the very beginning, New Line Cinema _ which declined to comment for this story _ has been seemingly ignorant of the movie they were making. Last summer, they even decided to change the title to the relatively stultifying "Pacific Air Flight 121."
But then star Samuel L. Jackson spoke up, and the world — or at least the World Wide Web — took notice.
"That's the only reason I took the job," Jackson told an online reporter last August. "I read the title."
Summing up the reason so many moviegoers have gone wild for this tale of an assassin who unleashes deadly snakes in the midst of a commercial flight, Jackson went on to say: "You either want to see that, or you don't."
And it seems that even at a time when vastly more horrifying real plots on airliners are being contemplated, a lot of people really, really do.
"It should be the highlight of my summer," said Amanda Ives, 21, of West Palm Beach, Fla. She first found out about the movie in March, when, she said, "a friend demanded that I watch the trailer on the Internet.
"I was totally in awe, and I watched the trailer about four more times before sending e-mails to everyone I know, telling them to check it out."
Eric Schakne, 20, of Fort Lauderdale, came across the trailer in a similar way. "I thought it was a joke at first," he said, "but then I realized they are just exploiting the character that Sam Jackson plays oh-so-well. I was interested to see how they would pull it off ... embracing the apparent ludicrous content."
No kidding, dude!
One of the earliest champions of "SoaP" was the widely read entertainment Web site Defamer. On Aug. 16, 2005, they carried a link to Jackson's title-defending interview under the unabashedly ecstatic headline "Dude _ Snakes on a Plane!"
The next day, screenwriter Josh Friedman ("War of the Worlds"), who had briefly toyed with lending a hand on the "SoaP" script, wrote enthusiastically about the still-unfilmed movie on his blog: "It's a title. It's a concept. It's a poster and a logline and whatever else you need it to be. It's perfect. Perfect. It's the Everlasting Gobstopper of movie titles."
In September 2005, Defamer featured fan-created art inspired by the film _ notably, a shot of a real snake tangled around a toy airplane. And in January, a 26-year-old law student in Washington, D.C., named Brian Finkelstein started a site called Snakes on a Blog. Its stated mission: to get him invited to the Los Angeles premiere.
Other fan sites abounded. One featured a fake trailer with someone impersonating Jackson bellowing, "I want these (bleep-bleeping) snakes off this (bleep-bleeping) plane!"
Finally, earlier this year, New Line twigged to the fact that a movie they'd once desperately wanted to shape into something that seemed more respectable — something not called "Snakes on a Plane" _ had a major following.
Five days of reshoots were ordered "to deliver to the audience what they want," director David R. Ellis ("Final Destination 2") told NPR's All Things Considered on March 23.
The reshoots encompassed more gore, more nudity, more snakes and, believe it or not, Jackson actually delivering that indelible line that originated in the fan-made trailer. Taking things a step further, the poster for the movie was openly inspired by the fan art posted on Defamer last September.
Oh _ and blogger Finkelstein? He received his invitation to the premiere, courtesy of New Line, just last week.
But as "SoaP" has expanded from its relatively underground, Internet-based cult following, some of its earliest champions have soured a bit.
In March, when many were just discovering the movie existed, the humor site Cracked.com predicted: "Although it might not seem like it right now, `Snakes on a Plane' will follow the path blazed by other Internet humor fads like the `Brokeback Mountain' parodies, the `Chronicles of Narnia' rap and Chuck Norris Internet shrines."
On July 11, a weary Defamer wrote: "... (I)t can be argued there is no point to the movie beyond inducing bloggers to write about how awesome it is that there's a movie called `Snakes on a Plane.'"
In a recent phone interview, Defamer editor Mark Lisanti, 32, acknowledged the site's waning enthusiasm. "We've literally been writing about it for a year," he said. "No product, movie, anything could possibly sustain that level of hype over a year."
But some haven't lost their initial glee.
"I'm still just as excited as I was when I first heard about the movie," West Palm Beach fan Ives said. "I have plans with about six people and a bottle of vodka on opening night."
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`SNAKES' ON THE INTERNET
Defamer: Writing with far greater wry, literate wit than you might expect considering its pop-cult subject matter, extensive coverage of all things "SoaP" is easily accessible: www.defamer.com/hollywood/snakes-on-a-plane
Snakes on a Blog: Law student Brian Finkelstein chronicles his (spoiler alert: successful!) mission to snag an invite to the "SoaP" premiere. With many, many links and forums: www.snakesonablog.com
Wired Magazine: Rather than sorting through the plethora of fan pages, check out the selection of the highlights as gathered by the magazine that declared "SoaP" "the best worst movie of the year": blog.wired.com/snakes_on_a_plane/
Wikipedia: You know you're nothing and nobody until you merit an entry on the encyclopedia of the new millennium. Myriad links, history and trivia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_on_a_plane
Shop Intuition: If you can afford a diamond-encrusted, $3,900 necklace inspired by SoaP, you frankly frighten us.
www.shopintuition.com/product.asp?pid½equals⁈
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