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Gay Cupid Shot Down in Valentine's Day?


Valentines Dayx390 (Screen grab) | Advocate.com

New York magazine asks why Warner Bros. appears to be hiding the romance between Bradley Cooper and Eric Dane in the new romantic comedy Valentine’s Day.

According to the magazine’s Vulture blog, the trailers and TV commercials for the romantic comedy suggest that Cooper and Julia Roberts fall for each other while chatting on an airplane.

“However, it turns out that, in the film, Cooper only has eyes for Eric Dane; the whole Roberts angle that gets so much play in the trailers is just a red herring meant to distract audiences from this coupling of two extremely good-looking dudes,” reports Vulture.

According to Vulture, Cooper is an actor who seems comfortable playing gay, which likely rules out any theories about pressure from his camp to play down the gay angle.

”We're not exactly sure why Warner Bros. would bury this in their promotional campaign, unless they were concerned that it might scare potential ticket-buyers into going to see something else at the theaters this weekend," writes Vulture. "One could float the theory that Cooper's agents and management team insisted on keeping this plot element out of the marketing materials (and therefore not ‘harming’ Cooper's new reputation as a studly, macho, womanizing action star), but considering that this is at least the second time that Cooper has portrayed a gay man on film (the other being Wet Hot American Summer), it seems as if he's comfortable with his sexuality and wouldn't be the type to resort to this sort of deception.”

Watch the trailer below.

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Reader Comments
  • Name: Ryan Holman
    Date posted: 2/10/2010 3:40:44 PM
    Hometown: Santa Monica, CA

    Comment:

    I think it's kind of an interesting angle and not really all that harmful to our cause. I think it just makes the plot that much less cliche and that's great, it's not that they're saying anything negative about gay relationships, as far as we can tell, just that it's more interesting and less expected. The increasing frequency of gay couples and issues appearing in films is just overall good, that can't be argued about. I don't understand why people get so offended by marketing like this, I for one am pleasantly surprised.

  • Name: Trent
    Date posted: 2/10/2010 1:02:50 PM
    Hometown: NYC

    Comment:

    So interesting. I just listened to two gay guys talking about this over the weekend, and whether or not closeted actors hurt the gay movement - www.myboshow.com

  • Name: Steven
    Date posted: 2/9/2010 6:46:24 PM
    Hometown: Miami

    Comment:

    I beg to differ. I think the visibility of gay people in all facets of society, including entertainment, IS a real life issue. You can rest assured if there was a black couple in the movie that was not portrayed in the previews, there WOULD be an uproar. This attitude by some gays that we should just be grateful for any crumbs we are thrown is sad, pathetic, and a major problem. And to believe that the exclusion of the gay characters from the preview was not deliberate is extremely naive. Just like the previews for A SINGLE MAN were degayed and implied that the main character was romantically involved with Julianne Moore instead of grieving the loss of his male partner, this marketing technique was orchestrated to insure that tickets are sold and not to "offend" hetero viewers. Of course, who cares if these same viewers feel "ambushed" when they're watching the movie and see...gasp!...a gay couple.

  • Name: Olli
    Date posted: 2/9/2010 5:42:59 PM
    Hometown: Vienna

    Comment:

    I think Kelly's right! I understood when people got angry when trailers didn't show a kiss or any kind of affection between the "cowboys" in the trailer of Brokeback Mountain, but this here is a totally different thing - who cares? it's just one couple out of ten or something! I already can see girls in the cinema screaming "NooooooooooOOOOOooo", when they discover Eric Dane plays a gay character in this movie! :)

  • Name: Mike
    Date posted: 2/9/2010 3:43:20 PM
    Hometown: San Antonio

    Comment:

    One might also theorize that they are capitalizing on Julie Robert's box office draw.

  • Name: Kelly
    Date posted: 2/9/2010 3:34:24 PM
    Hometown: OHIO

    Comment:

    Why do people have to make an issue out of NOTHING??? who cares? it's a movie, see it or don't. it's sad in this day and age that everyone is trying to be SO politically correct that we're in fact becoming incorrect again!! it's a movie. for entertainment. what does it matter how the movie preview is shown? maybe the movie isn't trying to give away all the plot points all at once? now there's a thought. maybe leave a little for a surprise, minor plot twist, or something. people think too much. this is a movie NOT an agenda or an issue. dont we have enough other worries, REAL LIFE concerns like Haiti, poverty, lack of adequate health care, genocide, human trafficking, etc, to worry about??? for the record, i'm more than pro glbt and all, but seriously why do we have to nit pick every little freaking thing? it's no wonder we get ridiculed. its JUST a movie.

  • Name: Chris
    Date posted: 2/9/2010 1:31:11 PM
    Hometown: Nashville

    Comment:

    Whoa, speaking of bait and switch, check out the headline for this article. What does an image like "gay cupid" being shot down have anything to do with the fact that Bradley Cooper isn't blatantly out in the TRAILER for a movie that hasn't been released? Just curious, 'cause I thought there was an actual issue here.



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