WORTH WATCHING

Rian Johnson Used 'Se7en' & 'Blade Runner' to Get 'Looper' Made

by Ethan Anderton
August 21, 2014
Source: io9

Nowadays, in order to make a great pitch for a potential film, a director needs a proof-of-concept video to convey the style and tone of a project that they hope to get in front of a camera. In the case of original films that don't have established intellectual property and really need a convincing pitch, this is one of the most important elements of a pitch, especially when the film is a complex time travel thriller like Looper. Director Rian Johnson, who will soon be entering high pressure territory by directing Star Wars: Episode VIII, had to create one of these videos when he was pitching the superior sci-fi flick, and it's pretty cool.

Here's the proof-of-concept trailer for Rian Johnson's Looper originally from io9:

In addition, here's what Johnson had to say about putting together this pitch trailer:

"This is a fairly common thing to do when you're trying to get a movie off the ground, but it was the first time I tried it. It was meant to show more some of the film's tone, and to show how the odd concept could be presented in a clear and compelling way in the marketing. Zach Johnson did the sketches. Note that we hadn't begun the casting process yet, and the clips were chosen just based on their visuals and not by who is in them.”

As you can see, there's clips from Se7en and Blade Runner in there to help sell the film, though there was no intention for Brad Pitt or any other featured stars to be in the film. There's also motion-concept art and voiceover from Joseph Gordon-Levitt himself, before pre-production had even begun. Johnson crafted the trailer with the help of his friend Ronen Verbit and the rest is history. Now we're just hoping that Johnson crafted something cool like this for Star Wars: Episode VIII and maybe we'll get to see that years from now after the film has come and gone from movie theaters.

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