Atole Blog's

Jessegirl is back with her 12th amazing article! This one deals with some of the issues surrounding Rob and the marketing of Remember Me, in particular the time of the press junket prior to the release.

-by jessegirl- September 28, 2010

The Product:

Remember Me is not an easy story to sell; it was difficult to get financing for the project and then later it was a hard sell during promotion. Part of the reason is that it cannot be pigeon-holed into the usual genres, and when a close type is identified, it turns out most of the viewing public is not ready to pay to see that type of film.

Allen Coulter, its director, said it could be a ‘romantic drama’, but that it has “so many different layers…even we [the filmmakers] couldn’t describe it…which can be a terrible disadvantage and perhaps this is the kind of movie that wouldn’t get made if someone like Robert Pattinson didn’t want to make it…how do you explain to people…”. [to Edward Douglas at Coming Soon.net]

I ‘m not sure of the exact timeline, but Pattinson definitely read the script and met with Coulter and producer Nick Osborne and signed on to Remember Me long before Twilight came out. At that point none of the men knew that Twilight’s success would catapult Pattinson into the stratosphere of fame, but when it did, he then had the clout to get Summit to back the project. This phenomenal occurrence was a double-edged sword, because, when filming began, Coulter reports that it was “incredibly difficult” to film on the streets of NYC, with disrespectful paps and Pattinson’s eager fans hampering their efforts.

Because Remember Me defied categorization, even the star had problems selling it on the press junket. When speaking with Matt Lauer on the Today Show, the usually articulate Pattinson was a loss for words. He said:

“..it seemed like there was a reason to do it…it seemed like it wasn’t written just to be a film…I don’t know..there was just something special about it and I thought every part of it helped it become what it is..” This was the star’s chance, on national TV, to give people a reason to see the film. Hmm.

I am not faulting Pattinson or Coulter, and, with perspective, I realize it’s not as easy as it seems to give people a hook to hang the film on. For me, knowing a few plot details—like the families of two lovers coping with loss—was intriguing enough. And the way Pattinson and the filmmakers spoke of it, their passion, also drew me in. Obviously I’m not the run-of-the-mill filmgoer.

For the sake of normal filmgoers, how do you sell what you can’t describe in a sentence or two, what defies categories? Lauer was not about to ask him more in-depth questions. ‘But how was it different than a film? What more was the script meant to be? Did it seem too real to be a film, is that what you mean?’ I would have asked questions like that, delved deeper, help him figure it out. That’s the way to make discoveries. The Today Show is not the venue for pursuing any deeper thoughts though.