Trailer Trashin’ A Portrait of the Artist in Drew: The Man Behind the Poster
First off, like everyone else, I was shocked and horrified to learn about the shooting at the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado on the morning of Friday, July 20th, 2012. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, along with their families and friends. This was an act of senseless, unconscionable evil, and it has cast a cloud over what should have been a day of joy and celebration for movie fans. This event was a terrible tragedy, and as a lifelong movie geek, it has hit especially close to home for me. Everyone, please stay safe and be sure to tell your family and friends how much you love and care about them.
On a happier note, this week breaks new ground for “Trailer Trashin’,” because for the first time, I’m looking at a trailer for a documentary – namely, the upcoming Drew Struzan documentary Drew: The Man Behind the Poster.
Premise: A look at the life and work of legendary poster artist Drew Struzan. Telling his tale through exclusive interviews, the journey spans Drew’s early career in commercial and album cover art through his recent retirement as one of the most recognizable and influential movie poster artists of all time.
My take: You may not recognize the name Drew Struzan, but you definitely know his work. Since the mid-1970s, many of the most famous and iconic movie posters of all time have come from his paintbrushes: The Thing (1982) with the exploding head; The Goonies (1985) with the kids hanging on to each other; First Blood (1982) with John Rambo holding the machine gun; Back to the Future (1985) with Marty McFly standing next to the DeLorean checking his watch; the original Star Wars (1977) famous “circus” poster for its 1978 re-release. All these were made by the same man.
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster was first brought to our attention way back in August of 2010, when the first trailer for the documentary was released online. This past May, the production team turned to Kickstarter to raise the needed money to help with the film’s post-production, and that goal was met. While we’re still waiting for word on when and how the finished film will be released, this new trailer was shown at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, and it has reignited fan interest in the project.
Aside from looking at Struzan’s life and work, the film also features interviews with a number of the filmmakers and actors from movies for which Drew did poster work. Seen in this trailer are snippets of the interviews with director/writer Guillermo del Toro, film critic Leonard Maltin, Michael J. Fox, director/writer Frank Darabont, George Lucas, actor Sam Witwer, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, film critic/writer Harry Knowles, and actor Thomas Jane. It’s abundantly clear that all of them have great respect and admiration for Struzan, and I’m interested to hear what kind of stories they have to tell.
All in all, this looks like it could be a fantastic documentary. Struzan is an amazing artist, and his work absolutely deserves to be celebrated. Unfortunately, there’s still no news on a distributor or other release plans, but I hope that, sooner rather than later, we’ll finally get to see Drew: The Man Behind the Poster in its entirety.
ANTICIPATION: Will someone please pick this up so it can get a release? The world needs to see it!
Release Date: TBA
Starring: Drew Struzan, Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Frank Darabont, Steve Guttenberg, Bob Gale, Leonard Maltin, Michael E. Uslan, Sam Witwer, Thomas Jane, and Harry Knowles
Director: Erik Sharkey
Writers: Greg Boas, Charles Ricciardi, and Erik Sharkey
P.S. Before anyone asks, the teaser trailers for Man of Steel were released online too late for me to write about them this week. I’ll cover them next time.
Timothy Monforton
