By my count, this is the seventh poster for Kevin Smith’s Red State to be released in the last few months, and it is just as excellent as the last six. Same black background, same scratched-up effect, and now we see the brilliant Stephen Root (TV’s King of the Hill and NewsRadio) as The Sheriff.
In the same vein as the first six posters, this new Red State poster was put up for auction and Film Threat were given the rights to show it first. The money they bid is going to two charities: ,050 will go to the American Red Cross, for earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan, and 0 will go to The Wayne Foundation, a charity devoted to fighting against child prostitution and human trafficking.
Quoting Kevin Smith on the use of the poster, if anyone else should want to use or share it:
“If you’re a movie website or film journalist and you want to feature this poster or use it in a story, don’t be a detail-thin dick.
Be sure to tell people WHY the poster was released: because (Gavin Ap’ Morrygan (@Tearsinrain78), Darryl Clarke, Jamie Calder (@jamiecalder), Dan Duffy (@TheHalfFund), Heath C. Ice (@hcice) and FilmThreat.com (@filmthreat)) bid $2050 to earthquake and tsunami relief for Japan.
If you also include the link for Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief (http://www.redcross.org/) in your story/article, you’re not only being a thorough journalist, you’re also helping to save actual lives.
It only takes a few seconds longer to provide all available facts in any story.
Including THIS fact can help save lives.”
If you would also like to donate money to the Japanese Tsunami Appeal, then you can do so at the British Red Cross, The Japan Society, or even through PayPal. The 9.0-magnitude earthquake devastated the country on the 11th of March, and both short- and long-term support will be needed to help rebuild and restore what was damaged or destroyed by the earthquake and the following tsunamis. Whatever you can spare will be incredibly helpful in the restoration process.
Returning back to Stephen Root, this latest poster shows what a great actor he is (one worthy of more credit, if you ask me). In NewsRadio (a classic, I’d highly recommend it if you’ve not seen it), he played an incredibly nice guy who wouldn’t hurt a fly. But if this new Red State poster is anything to go by, he’s now out for blood. Maybe with a little justice thrown in there too. But mostly blood.
Some people have been critical of Smith for the way that he’s been promoting this movie, but I think he’s an absolute genius. He’s going against the grain, distributing the movie himself. And I really hope that it pays off for him. At the very least, he’ll have my ticket money heading his way on the opening weekend. I only wish he could bring to the U.K. his Red State U.S.A. Tour, which is currently screening the film months in advance of its mid-October 2011 release at theatres across the United States. Alas, I will have to wait until the end of the year. I know that it will be worth the wait, though. I’m a massive fan of everything Smith’s done, from Clerks on a $30,000-odd shoestring budget, through to Zack and Miri Make A Porno, on a $24 million budget. And I cannot wait to see what the man has created for us next.
Click the poster to enlarge.
