Now, Gothamist hasn't been paying too much attention to The Village, the new M. Night Shyamalan film due out this summer, but we are fascinated by the attempt by the Sci-Fi Channel to create buzz by saying that the M. Night had "quit" the behind-the-scenes documentary about him and the film they were shooting. Jeffrey Wells from Hollywood Elsewhere noted a story by AP writer David Bauder (picked up Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) that looked at the controversy with M. Night walking off and refusing to cooperate anymore on the doc, which was attempting to get at a "buried secret" - article complete with quotes from the filmmakers, Calum Greene and the Sci-Fi channel. Wells then received an email from Phil Villarreal, film critic at the Arizona Daily Star, that said the doc was "mockumentary no more authentic than BEST IN SHOW and part of a very smart marketing push for THE VILLAGE"; then Wells got in touch with Bauder, who also started to realize he'd been served, all the while the Sci-Fi Channel refused to return Wells' calls. Bauder heard from the Sci-Fi Channel, who admitted it was a hoax (see Bauder's follow-up here from the Philadelphia Inquirer), with Sci-Fi president saying it was a guerilla marketing scheme "gone too far." Note to all big companies: Guerilla marketing schemes can be dangerous. Just because a bunch of kids with a camcorder, shaky camera work, and friends with websites can do guerilla doesn't mean you can, too.
The hilarious thing is that on the Sci-Fi website for the documentary, there are links to other papers noting how M. Night suddenly took away access, but no links (natch) to anything to reveals the true story. Wells ends his thoughts on The Village wanna-be buzz with:
I would be lying if I didn't admit that this episode has totally pissed me off, and that I would love to repay the favor by trashing THE VILLAGE any which way I can. I'm not going to say it's not a good film if I think otherwise after seeing it. But I think this episode should be read as a big green light by all entertainment journalists to dump on THE VILLAGE in any way possible. You know....because it'll feel good.
Ah, sweet revenge. Gothamist has seen trailers for The Village, but it just looks like The Crucible with some aliens and some paint. Anyone know anything else? And one of the co-directors of the non-controversial documentary is Nathaniel Kahn, who directed the Oscar-nominated My Architect about his father, Louis I. Kahn.
