Hey, remember when we used to complain about product placement? The grand tradition of kvetching when Jack Lemmon picked up a box of Barilla pasta or Julia Roberts applying Revlon lipstick seems so quaint now, in an era when dozens of blockbusters are based on action figures or toys, and Mattel and a major Hollywood studio collaborating to make as much money as possible. If annoying Hollywood money-grubbing techniques were reality television, product placement would be Survivor and action figure movies would be Rock of Love.
But just because it no longer seems as irritating doesn't mean it's not there. A piece in today's New York Times is a sharp reminder of how much we've just let product placement wash into the acceptable, describing how Jason Reitman got Hilton to provide free lodging for the cast and crew in exchange for product placement in Up in the Air, and sitting in on a session between product placement attorney Robert Yospe and screenwriter Roberto Orci, as they figured out how to work more brand names into the upcoming thriller The 28th Amendment.
I know, gross. Orci, who is a smart guy, has the sense to reject the idea for the fugitive President and a rogue Special Forces agent to stop for fast food during their getaway. But an idea that seems to have stuck is for the Special Forces agent to rendezvous with his bartender girlfriend, then take away a "brand-name trinket" as a good luck charm. Yospe pointed out that they could get even more money from the company if the item came into the plot later on. This is how your Hollywood sausage gets made.
The last we heard about The 28th Amendment becoming an actual movie was this time last year, when Tom Cruise backed away from the project and with him presumably went German director Florian Henckle von Donnersmarck, who is now directing Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in The Tourist. Clearly the script has gone back into the tinkering phase, and once Orci and writing partner Alex Kurtzman have been forced to jam enough brand-name products in there, presumably it will make the casting rounds once again.
