Remember what I said this morning about empty gestures in the aftermath of the Aurora shootings? Set phasers to “durp.”
And the studio moved swiftly Friday to pull from exhibs and online outlets the trailer for “Gangster Squad,” a period drama that featured a scene in which agents spray machine-gun fire into a crowded movie theater from behind the screen. Given the eerie association created by the Aurora shootings, Warner Bros. has since decided to remove the scene from the film, which opens Sept. 7, and is putting reshoot plans into motion, a source with knowledge of the situation told Variety. Warner Bros. would not comment.
Hmm, well I’ve heard rumblings about Gangster Squad reshoots for other reasons, maybe they just threw this one in because it was convenient. Oh, and by the way, this whole gesture is cheapened somewhat by the fact that it came to us by way of a Variety piece that includes the word “bizzer”:
Bizzers in Los Angeles were just waking up to the horrendous news of the slayings at the “Dark Knight” midnight screening when Warner Bros. execs made the call to cancel Friday’s skedded premiere in Paris… [Variety]
“Bizzers?” Did Snoop Dog write this? Go f**k yourself, Variety. Kind of hard to strike the proper tone of somberness when you’re wearing a giant foam cowboy hat during the eulogy.