Even though Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” played at the Venice and New York Film Festivals, it still hasn’t had a lot of ballyhoo. Cooper wasn’t even allowed to speak the New York Film Fest even though he directed and starred in the movie. SAG strike rules forbade it.
But with the strike over, Netflix — like all the studios — are ready to turn on the spigot of publicity. This isn’t just for box office, but for awards season. In less than a month, nominations will be announced for the Critics Choice Awards and some kind of Golden Globes. Also, the NY Film Critics and other cities’ critics groups will be making decisions.
We’re finally going to hear from Cooper and co-star Carey Mulligan, who’s so sensational in the biopic marriage story of composer Leonard Bernstein.
We’re probably going to be hearing from and seeing the casts of a lot of movies that opened during the strike including “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Barbie,” and “Oppenheimer.” They’ve been silent since mid July.
And the end of the strike makes it a lot easier for all the talk shows, as well as “Saturday Night Live,” to give a retroactive push to the films. You can only imagine the jostling among bookers to get Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and so on.
Who loses in this revived PR machine? The directors. They’ve been doing all the heavy lifting for months, answering questions, posing for pictures, etc. They did yeoman service, but now it’s time to step back and let the beautiful people they cast in their films take over.
On this year’s red carpet, when a star is asked. What are you wearing? The answer will be: a grin.
