This reminds me of that South Park episode

when either Stan or Kyle goes the goth kids' table and asks them about death, since they've chosen "the dark side" to define their collective personality. But the goth kids don't really know about death; it's just a trend that they are following to be "different".

Warner Bros. Left With A Major 'Dark Knight' Marketing Problem, from Defamer.

And so, with two days to let the devastating news sink in, Variety now asks the inevitable question of what's to be done with Heath Ledger's final projects--the wrapped The Dark Knight, and Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus . . .

As we pointed out on Tuesday, The Dark Knight's focuses squarely and gruesomely on Ledger's chillingly effective performance as The Joker, providing an unwelcome creative predicament for WB's marketing czar . . .

I am not fully aware of the story being told in this latest installment of the Batman movies. But if I can tell anything from the poster featured in the Defamer article, The Dark Knight is supposed to be super creepy due in large part to Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker. Now the gang at Warner Bros. is faced with the fact that the grotesque, macabre nature of their original marketing plan can't begin to compare with the disturbing reality: a successful young actor dying of a self-induced drug overdose before that actor had even reached his peak.

That said, let's move on to my favorite comments.

JupiterSpaw says:

Nolan in post-production reintroduces secondary villain previously left on the cutting-room floor: The enigmatic Quantum Solace!

which is a reference to this latest casualty of the writers' strike: Producers Decide 'Bond 22' Not Catchy Enough, Decide To Go With 'Quantum of Solace'.

Now for more comments.

Her Royal Empress Dr. Bufflekins III, Esq. says:

Seems like a great opportunity for the project to scale back the Hollywood hard-on for marketing everything within an inch of its life until I can't imagine wanting to see it anymore . . .

BonnieGrrl makes way too much sense by saying:

This might sound crazy -- but why not just put Batman on all the posters again? Too simple?

To see what SteamyMcFirecrotch said to give me the most inappropriate of church giggles all day, you can click here.

FYI, the Batman featured above is George Clooney, circa 1997.

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Booo.

My friend Stephanie alerted me to this story today: Warner's Robinov Bitchslaps Film Women; Gloria Allred Calls For Warner's Boycott, by Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily. Emphases mine.

This comes to me from three different producers, so I know it's real: Warner Bros president of production Jeff Robinov has made a new decree that "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead". This Neanderthal thinking comes after both Jodie Foster's The Brave One (even though she's had big recent hits with Flightplan and Panic Room) and Nicole Kidman's The Invasion (as if three different directors didn't have something to do with the awfulness of the gross receipts) under-performed at the box office recently...

Of course, Warner Bros has always been male-centric in its movies. But now the official policy as expressly articulated by Robinov is that a male has to be the lead of every pic made. I'm told he doesn't even want to see a script with a woman in the primary position (which now is apparently missionary at WB)...

Noted women's rights attorney Gloria Allred just gave me this statement in response to what I've posted above: "If that's what he said, when movies with men as the lead fail, no one says we'll stop making movies with men in the lead. This is an insult to all moviegoers and particularly women. It is truly unfortunate that women get blamed for decisions which are made by men. Instead of taking responsibility for their own lack of judgment about which scripts to make, directors to hire and budgets to OK, some men in the movie industry find it easier to place blame for their lack of success on women leads and to exclude talented female actors from the top employment opportunities in Hollywood in favor of macho males. If that studio confirms that their policy is to now exclude women as leads, then my policy would be to boycott films made by Warner Bros."

Even if Mr. Robinov didn't say those exact words, the sentiment of the article still rings true. How many movies this summer had a girl or a woman as the lead character? Not as the way-out-of-the-guy's-league girlfriend, but as a protagonist with her own hopes and dreams outside of existing mainly for her man's pleasure? Now, how many movies this summer featured boys and men? Also, note how many boys and men filled up the supporting roles as well, and think about what kind of supporting roles the few women were left with.

To bring the horrid state of the movie business into focus, name one black female character in any of this summer's feature films. Bonus points if she had any sense in her head. I'll spot you one Alicia Keys in The Nanny Diaries.