Aspies For Freedom

I just went to the premiere of Mozart and the whale at my local cinema. the movie was great (seen it before obv) and the audience (NTs) seemed to get it, at least they laughed (and cried) at the same places i did.
Since the director is a renouned director in norway i imagined this movie would get ALOT of publicity before the premiere. but a spanish Almodovar  movie that also premiered this week got all the attention in the media instead. it even got it's trailer on TV. Mozart and the whale didnt even have a proper film poster at the cinema and all the other new films did!
Should i just ask the people at the cinema where the hell they put the movie poster? Cause I am sure they recieved it..They only had a small poster.. and it wasnt in the lobby of the cinema or anything!
And i cant find any reviews in any norwegian newspapers its like they are embarrased or something...
now what?

So now you write the review  :grin:  and send it to the press.

That's unfortunate and the answer could come down to money.

Big budget films spend money getting media attention, on advertising, and having stars at premieres.

Usually only blockbuster films get big premieres

well it had an official premiere. i just thought it was totally odd that ALL the other premiere films had huge posters in the foaje of the cinema except this one.
okay i will stop complaining now. maybe if they make a movie about two aspie cowboys it will get better publisity...

I bet there's a story behind this. I think something weird is going on with this movie.

     You are right but in the past tense.... There was a fallout between the studio and Josh Hartnett&the director. The studio was more interested in responding to the pre-release test audiences. Josh and Petter wanted a more serious and edgy movie than the final product. Just look at "The Black Dahia" and you will see that Josh is not afraid to explore the dark side of life and that would not have necessarily been bad, done properly.

      For that reason, Josh and Petter decided not to publicly support the movie upon release. Artistically, I agree with their feelings. They didn't like seeing some scenes cut and I didn't either. They didn't like the music and I hated it.

      However, with all of its faults, the movie was still a much better film,  compared to other autism movies ( not much to pick from . It was not nearly as innacurate as "Rain Man" even. It was good enough to inspire interest in Aspergers even if eventual education would have to come from more documentary type efforts. It would have (if seen by millions) stirred interest in asperger syndrome.  It never got the chance.

       While I remain gratefull to Josh and Petter for making the movie possible in the first place, their final decision did a dis-service to me, my wife ( whose lives were tossed into the trash can as a result ) and the other actors whose efforts were denied an audience well deserved. It has to be the most bitter disappointment of my life, 21201 days of it, so far.

                     Jerry Newport aka The Whale

They didn't like the music and I hated it.

I am glad you said that, the music did not fit well for me, it seemed out of place.
It is a shame that there was an artistic disagreement.

But...these things have happened in the past, and later a 'Director's Cut' edition of a film gets released which is very popular.

      That is small consolation, Amy. The music was a real insult to my wife, inspiration for the "Mozart" in the title. If you have "Mozart" in the title, you need a memorable score, not garbage. Mary was promised a role in choosing the score and that never happened. But then, I was promised a role in the production too and that didn't happen. Lots of things never happened. That's entertainment.

     As far as our relationship to the project, things went south, except for Josh and Petter coming on board, when the movie was picked up by Millennnium. This is a really cheezy company whose attitude towards Mary and Me was " To hell with any promises. Our lawyers can beat up your lawyer."  By contrast, Stephen Spielberg personally invited us up to his office twice. We NEVER met the head of the other studio. For that matter, Mary never met the woman who played her alter-ego.

        Basically, we were dehumanized into a pair of cadavers to be cut and spliced onto a cheesy fictionalized abortive life story.

                                      Jerry Newport aka The Whale

Jerry, that is really a shame.  All of it.  I do hope to see the movie someday, though.  And I am glad you took the risk and did the project, I'm just sorry it didn't turn out better for you.

Hollywood really knows how to shoot itself in the foot sometimes.

Considering Josh Hartnett's rising stardom and his involvement with Scarelett Johnassen (lucky bugger!), I'd have thought this film wold have been bigger.