Forgive me for bragging, but I like to think we had a major
part in this latest development.
But Variety is reporting that Lionsgate has announced that they will be pulling those controversial
Italian Brad Pitt/Michael Fassbender 12
Years A Slave posters after howls of protest from people. No doubt after
my piece yesterday. I had no idea I was so powerful.
A spokesman for Lionsgate, whose Summit distribution arm label is releasing the film in Italy, said
that:
The ’12 Years a Slave’ theatrical posters
featuring Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender that were recently released in Italy
were unauthorized and were not approved by any of the producers or licensors of
the film. Summit Entertainment, acting as exclusive sales agent for the
licensors, is investigating and taking immediate action to stop the
distribution of any unauthorized posters and to have those posters currently in
the marketplace recalled.
But seriously all credit should go to the Tumblr blog Carefree Black Girl, which first posted the
images of the Italian posters for 12 Years that caught our attention.
But this does beg the question: were these posters really “unauthorized and…not approved”
as they claim, or is this a convenient excuse after people expressed shock and
outrage about them?
UPDATE: Today BIM
Distribuzine, which worked with the
marketing company Fanatical About Cinema in creating the posters, and for which Lionsgate/Summit was acting as the
film’s Italian sales agents, issued an apology for the posters saying that: “We
apologize for creating and releasing unauthorized posters for ’12 Years A
Slave’ in Italy featuring Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender in a manner
inconsistent with approved advertising materials. All inappropriate materials
have now been withdrawn. We are very proud of the film and regret any
distraction this incident may have caused.”