trailer break: ‘I Love You Phillip Morris’

Interestingly, the name of the movie is misspelled in its own trailer. Phillip should have two l’s. Philip with one l is Philip Morris, the tobacco company... which is what I originally figured the title referred to. I thought this was gonna be another satire along the lines of Thank You for Smoking. Apparently, it has absolutely nothing to do with tobacco at all. Go know.

More interestingly, perhaps, is the fact that two straight actors, Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, are portraying the two gay leads here. A piece in the Independent last week asked the film’s screenwriters and directors, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (the guys who wrote Bad Santa -- they’re making their directorial debut here) about that. Is it bigotry?

"People have asked us, 'Why didn't you hire gay actors to play these roles?'" says Requa. "Well, there are no gay actors in Hollywood! None of them are out of the closet. With the exception of Ian McKellen, who is too old for the part, it's exceedingly rare to see that. And it sucks because they're actors. If a straight guy can play gay, why can't a gay guy play straight? It's just as convincing. But there's this perception in marketing, somehow the public can't overcome this idea of, 'There's a gay guy kissing that straight woman – my God!' I don't understand that."

Very interesting... and very true.

I Love You Phillip Morris opens in the U.K. today, and in the U.S. and Canada on April 30.