PROCESS: MAKING A MOVIE TRAILER

I directed a film called "Blow." Blow is a code word for cocaine. (As
if you didn't know that.) And it's a word I couldn't say in the
film's trailer. But let's start from the beginning.

THE BACKSTORY

First, as producer and director, I sit with my editor, Kevin Tent,
and the marketing team from New Line Cinema, and we talk about ways
to make our campaign stand out from the other 24 big films opening in
April, mostly comedies and thrillers. We figure that these will be a
combination of jokey trailers and scary, grainy trailers.

Our movie is a drama, the true story of George Jung, played by Johnny
Depp, a small-town boy who moved to California in the summer of 1968,
discovered sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll and went on to become maybe
the largest cocaine dealer in this country's history. We decide to
use a lot of music with as little narrative as possible in the
trailer, to make our film feel "cooler" than the competition.

THE SOUNDTRACK

"Blow" is mostly a period piece. It takes place in the late 1960's,
early 70's -- the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Ram Jam, Cream, Lynyrd
Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Well, we
can't use this dinosaur rock in the trailer, the New Line folks say,
the MTV generation won't dig it. Yeah, but using new music kind of
misrepresents the period, I say. Don't worry, they say; we need the
MTV viewers to dig it. This goes on for hours. And days.

We finally decide to make two trailers, one with an MTV-type
soundtrack to run before movies likely to attract young audiences
(but not too young -- Blow" is rated R) and one using the Rolling
Stones. But wait! My New Line colleagues inform us that the Stones
never allow anyone -- anyone -- to use their songs in a trailer. So,
I get my music supervisor (who also happens to be my lovely wife) to
call Mr. Jagger, set up a screening, beg, plead, do anything to get
approval. (We get it -- and for a very modest fee.)

THE VOICE-OVER

I beg not to use Voice-Over Man. You know: "In a world where . . . "
or "In a time when. . . . " That guy. He's probably a real nice guy.
I hate that guy. In fact, I'd prefer no narrator at all, just sound
bites from the movie. But the New Line folks want at least some
voice-over. We end up doing two versions: one with two sentences of
voice-over at the beginning and one without. We agree to let the
studio decide. They pick the voice-over version. Our voice-over guy
- -- picked from 100 auditioners -- does have a cool voice. But I still
don't like it.

THE LOOK

Back in the cutting room, Kevin and I have been putting together
"cool" images that we set aside as we were cutting the film:
slow-motion dolly shots of Johnny and Penelope Cruz (who plays his
wife), locations in Colombia, planes flying just above the camera,
experimental shots that didn't make it into the film but seem perfect
for the trailer, plus the Johnny Depp superstar shot. And we can't
forget that close-up of the drug dealers firing their guns in slow
motion.

THE BLACK LIST

Hold up! Kevin informs me that I can't use that gun shot. Why not?
It's on the Motion Picture Association of America's no-no list for
making a "general audiences" trailer. So let's make an R-rated
trailer, like the movie. My New Liners tell me that you can't play
R-rated trailers before PG-rated movies. So, if you want the most
people to see your trailer, make it a G-rated trailer. O.K., lets see
the M.P.A.A. list. How bad can it be?

These are some of the rules in the M.P.A.A.'s 28-page handbook: no
excessive violence -- close-up shootings, stabbings, hacking with
axes, etc.; no blood in general-audience trailers; if guns are fired,
no close-ups where bullets hit the body (cut to the body on the
ground); no exposed breasts or genitals; no bed scenes with any
action; no sexually connotative words, no blasphemous language
("hell" and "damn" alone are O.K.); and -- here's the big one -- no
references to drugs or drug paraphernalia. Remember my title?
Medellin, we have a problem.

HAPPY TRAILS

Once we cut the gun shot and all shots involving cocaine (no small
task), we put the G-rated clips together with the two music tracks.
Then we get New Line's official stamp of approval.

In the end, we did not say "God," we did not say "damn," we did not
say "goddamn." We did not show blood or a menage a trois. We did not
show any drugs (really, those are cigarettes!) or even say the title
of the film. We cut a trailer, and a darn good one, I hope. But the
process behind a two-minute theatrical trailer takes about two and a
half months, or about a day and a half per second of film. So now I
need to rest.