I just saw "The Life of Emile Zola" and am confused by this movie poster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:The_Life_of_Emile_Zola_poster.jpg
Who is that? It doesn't look anything like Zola or any other character in the film.
It is a picture of the actor who plays Zola, great actor othe 39s. PAUL MUNI ((Rememeber Howard Hawks's Scarface?)
shareIt is a picture of the actor who plays Zola, great actor of the 30s. PAUL MUNI ((Rememeber Howard Hawks's Scarface?)
shareI recognize it's Paul Muni but the poster should show the carachter as he is in the movie, and not the actor himself.
shareActually, back in the '30s it was common to have images of the actors not in character on the posters. Period movies were considered a risky investment for the studios. It was safer to use an image of a popular actor in contemporary clothing rather than risk turning away ticket buyers who might be turned off by a stuffy costume picture. That was probably the reasoning here, too.
I've seen a similar poster with Norma Shearer photographed as herself for "The Barrets of Winpole Street".
My wife loves Paul Muni movies, but she refers to him when she can't remember his name as "that guy who looks like a Neandethal man." Before we played the DVD of Zola we were laughing at what a flattering picture of him the movie poster DVD jacket displayed. It was hard to recognize him from that picture.
He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45