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Snakes on a Plane

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Snakes on a Plane
File:SOAPnew.jpg
Directed byDavid R. Ellis
Written bySheldon Turner
Sebastian Gutierrez
John Heffernan
David Dalessandro
Produced byCraig Berenson
Stokely Chaffin
Toby Emmerich
Penny Finkelman Cox
Don Granger
Justis Greene
Jeff Katz
Gary Levinsohn
Sandra Rabins
George Waud
David J. Taylor
StarringSamuel L. Jackson
Nathan Phillips
Rachel Blanchard
Mark Houghton
CinematographyAdam Greenberg
Edited byHoward E. Smith
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Release dates
August 18, 2006 (US)
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35,000,000

Snakes on a Plane is a high concept action / horror film scheduled to be released by New Line Cinema on August 18, 2006. The David R. Ellis-helmed film was written by David Dalessandro, John Heffernan, Sheldon Turner and stars Samuel L. Jackson. The film wrapped up principal photography in September of 2005, but the studio later ordered five days of additional re-shooting to raise the MPAA film rating system rating from a PG-13 to an R[1], although the MPAA has not yet rated the movie. Though initially speculated to be a dark, absurdist, or surreal comedy, it will apparently be presented as an action/horror film. Ronny Yu was originally slated to direct and spoke enthusiastically about the project before leaving due to budget disputes and "creative differences."

Taglines:

  • On August 18th Summer Really Begins.
  • Sit Back. Relax. Enjoy the fright.
  • Relax. They're first class fliers.
  • At 30,000 feet, snakes aren't the deadliest thing on this plane.


Plot

FBI agents Nelville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) and John Saunders (Mark Houghton) escort Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips), a former low-ranking member of the Mafia, to testify in a highly publicized case. In the course of a flight between Hawaii and California, an assassin pays airport security to sneak a time-release crate of over 500 snakes of various sizes on board in the hope of killing the witness[2].

History

File:Movieposter 5262.jpg
One of the movie posters for the film.

The film's title and premise generated a lot of pre-release interest on the Internet. Much of the initial publicity came from a blog entry made by screenwriter Josh Friedman, who had been offered a chance to work on the script[3]. The casting of popular actor Samuel L. Jackson further increased anticipation. At one point, the film's working title was altered to Pacific Air Flight 121. In August 2005, a perturbed Samuel L. Jackson told an interviewer, "We're totally changing that back. That's the only reason I took the job: I read the title."[4] In another interview in early 2006, Jackson claimed that once he learned about the movie title being changed he said: "What are you doing here? It's not Gone with the Wind. It's not On the Waterfront. It's Snakes on a Plane!"[5] On March 2, 2006, the studio reverted the title to Snakes on a Plane.

In recognition of the unprecedented Internet buzz for what had been a minor movie in their 2006 line-up, New Line Cinema ordered five days of additional shooting in early March 2006[6] (principal photography had wrapped in September 2005). While re-shoots normally imply problems with a film, the producers opted to add new scenes to the film to take the movie from PG-13 into R-rated territory and bring the movie in line with growing fan expectations. Among the reported additions is a line that originated as an Internet parody of Samuel L. Jackson's traditional movie persona: "That's it! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!".

On June 3, 2006, Samuel L. Jackson said, while presenting the award for best movie at the MTV Movie Awards, "I'm here tonight to present the award everyone's been waiting for: best movie. This award holds a special place in my heart because next year I'll be winning it for Snakes on a Plane. Now I know, I know that sounds cocky, but I don't give a damn. I'm guaranteeing that Snakes on a Plane will win best movie next year. Does not matter what else is coming out. New James Bond... no snakes in that! Ocean's 13... where my snakes at? Shrek the Third... green, but not a snake. No movie shall triumph over Snakes on a Plane. Unless I happen to feel like making a movie called Mo' Motha-fuckin' Snakes on Mo' Motha-fuckin' Planes."

Media coverage

In mid-July 2006, New Line Cinema revealed that it would not be showing any advance screenings for critics. Gitesh Pandya of BoxOfficeGuru.com claimed that "These kind of movies are marketing-driven, not critic-driven. So the only thing the critics could do is hurt it. And even if the reviews are good, they wouldn't mean much." Producers plan for the film to debut on August 18 with some late-night screenings on August 17.[7] Despite the lack of advance screenings, the movie has garnered much publicity in various media.

During a July 21, 2006 panel discussion at the Comic-Con Convention in San Diego, California, a ten-minute clip from the film was shown to a crowd of more than 6,500 people. The panel included actors Samuel L. Jackson and Kenan Thompson, director David R. Ellis, and snake handler Jules Sylvester. Afterwards, fans were allowed to ask the panelists questions.[8]

Print

Black Flame is publishing the novelization to the film. It is written by Christa Faust, a cult horror writer with fans such as Quentin Tarantino. On June 13, 2006, comic book writer Chuck Dixon announced on his web site that he would be writing the comic book adaptation of Snakes on a Plane. DC Comics has since announced that their Wildstorm imprint will release a two issue miniseries on August 16th and August 30th [1]. In January 2006, Wired featured the film as "The best worst film of 2006," based solely on the title and concept of the movie.[9]

An illustrated book is forthcoming from Thunder's Mouth Press detailing the internet phenomenon, entitled Snakes on a Plane : The Guide to the Internet Ssssssensation by David Waldon. Waldon details various viral videos relating to the SoaP craze, and interviewed their producers to find out what about the movie captured their attention. The book is scheduled to be in stores just before the theatrical release of the film.

File:SnakesOnAPlane scene.jpg
A scene with Kenan Thompson from Snakes on a Plane.

Music and audio

On March 16, 2006, New Line Cinema publicly announced a contest on TagWorld[10] and a website promoting the film.[11] The contest allowed artists on TagWorld to have their music featured on the movie. A flood of S.O.A.P themed songs by artists like Captain Ahab, Louden Swain, the Former fat boys, Nispy, and others are now available because of the TagWorld contest. In addition, a music video for the film, released July 10, 2006 on MTV2's Unleashed, has also generated publicity toward the movie. The video is for the first song on the soundtrack CD, Cobra Starship's "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)".

In October of 2005, Nathanial Perry and Chris Rohan recorded an audio trailer spoof, which helped fuel the internet buzz. Perry and Rohan recorded the "motherfucking snakes" line in the audio trailer which was added to the film during the week of re-shoots [12] . In July of 2006, New Line Cinema hired the Cutting Corporation to produce an audiobook of the film.

Television and video

Beginning in May 2006, episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and its sister show The Colbert Report contained references to Snakes on a Plane’s title, famous line, and general premise. Colbert accompanies the references with an imitation of Samuel L. Jackson saying "I am in love with this motherfucking snake!" Keith Olbermann has featured stories about the movie and Internet buzz several times on his MSNBC news program Countdown. In addition, G4's Attack of the Show features a semi-regular segment entitled "Snakes on a Plane: An Attack of the Show Investigation." MTV Canada’s MTV Live has made sketches of an eager man waiting in line for months to see Snakes on a Plane first. [2] [3] [4] [5]

In June 2006, New Line Cinema commissioned famed UK audio-visual film remixers and chop-up artists Addictive TV to cut and sample Snakes on a Plane to create trailers for the US television networks.

Internet

File:Snakesonaplane1js.jpg
A widely circulated joke promotional image for Snakes on a Plane.

Snakes on a Plane quickly became an Internet phenomenon soon after Josh Friedman's blog entry [3] and mentions on several Internet portals. The title inspired bloggers to create songs, apparel, poster art, pages of fan fiction, parody films, and mock movie trailers.

The phrase "Snakes on a Plane" has been used on Internet forums to indicate that a given topic is nonsensical. With creative uses of capital letters, bold or italic text, and punctuation the title has been manipulated to reflect surprise, horror, or absurdity, among other things. The meme is often interspersed with images of Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Mace Windu and quoting lines recalling his roles from both the Star Wars series and Pulp Fiction. The slang form "SoaP" is used in place of "Shit happens" or "Oh well, what'cha gonna do?"

A viral video entitled "Snakes on a Plane Early Auditions" features comedian Dave Coyne doing impressions of actors Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, Joe Pesci, and Robert De Niro, and muppet, Beaker, doing casting auditions for the movie.[13] The film has been featured on Digg, iFilm, and YouTube. Dave's voice acting talent can be heard in the audiobook dramatization of Snakes on a Plane.

Many of the early false trailers and other viral videos circulated via YouTube, and captured media attention there, such as:

On July 6, 2006, the official Snakes on a Plane website started a promotional sweepstakes called the "The #1 Fan King Cobra Sweepstakes." The contest makes innovative use of the publicity-generating potential of the Internet, requiring contestants to post links on forums, blogs, and websites and collecting votes from the users of those sites.

Recently, Varitalk has started an advertising campaign in which fans can send an amusing semi-personalized message in the voice of Samuel L. Jackson to telephone numbers of their choosing.

And, as the film's mid-summer 2006 release date approached, the studio launched more traditional online advertising.

Merchandising

File:Snakesonaplane.jpg
Example of the fan-made SoaP shirts.

Several independent T-shirt manufacturers have made T-shirts with graphics illustrating various humorous representations of the film. One, created by Jeffrey Rowland, depicts a frontal exterior view of a plane cockpit, with the pilot and copilot depicted as snakes. Another uses vintage road signs to formulate "Snakes + Plane = Snakes on a Plane". A third showed a cartoon representation of Jackson's Mace Windu character from the Star Wars series cutting down snakes with a lightsaber.

File:Ccsnakes.jpg
TNA wrestler Christian Cage sporting the shirt on TNA iMPACT (8/3).

It was pulled, presumably for copyright reasons. A Snakes on a Plane t-shirt is also now available at Hot Topic retail stores. Samuel L. Jackson was dressed in the snakes in cockpit fanshirt in the official music video "Snakes on a Plane", though this is only readily obvious from still photos from the day of the shoot, and only a fraction of the shirt is visible in the video. It is unknown if he chose the shirt himself, or if someone working on wardrobe selected it. On the August 3rd edition of TNA iMPACT!, wrestler Christian Cage was the latest person to sport the "road sign" t-shirt.

In a move which goes against usual movie merchandise practices, New Line Cinema partnered with CafePress.com to permit fans of "Snakes on a Plane" to become official licensees of "Snakes on a Plane" merchandise. This opened the door for millions to design and sell not only t-shirts but other gift items such as mugs as well. Designers are restricted from using any copyrighted images or content created by New Line Cinema (e.g. images from the film); or images/depictions of the individual actors in the film. Fans have already responded by creating hundreds of designs including those using the full title of the film, something allowed by the New Line Cinema / CafePress partnership.

Merchandising has even gone so far as to combine the AYBABTU phenomenon with Snakes on a Plane as seen here and here.

Cast

Actor Role
Samuel L. Jackson Neville Flynn
Nathan Phillips Sean Jones
Mark Houghton John Saunders
Julianna Margulies Claire Miller
Byron Lawson Eddie Kim
Sunny Mabrey Tiffany
Todd Louiso Price
Kenan Thompson Troy
James Hibbert Tim
Bruce James Ken
David Koechner Rick
Rachel Blanchard Mercedes Harbont
Bobby Cannavale Hank Harris

Trailers

The official teaser trailer premiered before X-Men 3: The Last Stand. and the first official trailer appeared online on June 26, 2006.[14] Another trailer circulated in July 2006, showing several of the snake attacks and a missing pilot and co-pilot.[15] In addition, New Line Cinema commissioned famed UK audio-visual film remixers and chop-up artists Addictive TV to cut and sample the film to create trailers for the US television networks. Rotten Tomatoes has video clips of the official trailers, as well as fan-made trailers.[16]

Soundtrack

Main article: Snakes on a Plane: The Album

The soundtrack will be released on August 15, 2006 as a joint project between New Line Records and Decaydance Records. [17]

Trivia

  • In a February 1998 episode hosted by John Goodman, a similar plot was undertaken by Saturday Night Live in a sketch called "When Cobras Attack".
  • The title image is a reference to the Caduceus, a staff belonging to Hermes in Greek mythology.
  • The phrase “snakes in the cockpit” is used by pilots and refers to the high number of complex tasks they have to accomplish.
  • In June 2006, a pilot had a run in with a real snake on his plane.[18]
  • No United States based airline currently allows snakes in the main cabin area. However, some airlines allow snakes to travel as cargo.
  • A rip-off horror B-movie, Snakes on a Train, is scheduled for release straight to DVD just a few days prior to Snakes on a Plane's theatrical release.
  • In the internet flash, "Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" For a brief moment, Samuel L. Jackson is shown, and then attacked by small green snakes.

References

  1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417148/trivia
  2. ^ Snakes On a Plane, Entertainment Weekly, April 28, 2006
  3. ^ a b Friedman, Josh (2005). "I find your lack of faith disturbing: Snakes on a Motherfucking Plane". Retrieved 2006-03-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ "Snakes on a Plane News at IMDB". Retrieved 2006-07-30. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  5. ^ Wloszczyna, Susan (2006). "'Snakes on a Plane' sssssssays it all". Retrieved 2006-04-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Borys Kit (2006). "The Hollywood Reporter.com: Fan frenzy for 'Snakes' is on a different plane". Retrieved 2006-03-24. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Ryan, Joal (2006). ""Snakes" Deplanes Critics". Retrieved 2006-07-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Matheson, Whitney (2006). "Can't stop the 'Snakes'". Retrieved 2006-07-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Steuer, Eric. "The Best Worst Movie of the Year". Wired. January 2006. Retrieved July 22, 2006.
  10. ^ "TagWorld and New Line Cinema Team for Snakes on a Plane Soundtrack Contest" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-03-18.
  11. ^ "TagWorld :: snakesonaplane's - Home". Retrieved 2006-03-18.
  12. ^ Fan frenzy for 'Snakes' is on a different plane Hollywood Reporter. March 2006. Retrieved July 31, 2006.
  13. ^ "Snakes on a Plane Early Auditions" YouTube. Retrieved July 22, 2006.
  14. ^ Official Trailer. Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved July 22, 2006.
  15. ^ "Snakes on a Plane." Alliance Atlantis & Odeon Films. Retrieved July 22, 2006.]
  16. ^ "Snakes on a Plane trailers". RottenTomatoes.com. Retrieved July 22, 2006.
  17. ^ Amazon.com: Snakes on a Plane: The Album: Music: Original Soundtrack. Retrieved July 21, 2006.
  18. ^ Foxnews.com: Pilot Fights Black Snake Stowaway on Plane." Retrieved July 22, 2006.
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