The Guard (U.S. and U.K. trailers)

Funny stuff. And a most interesting look at how films are marketed differently on either side of the Atlantic. Above is the U.K. trailer. Below is the U.S. trailer:

Only in the U.K. trailer is the one joke that plays on homophobic bigotry:

There are gay lads in the IRA?

It was the only way we could successfully infiltrate the MI5.

Perhaps that’s because the U.S. trailer spends its time focusing heavily on the outrageously absurd racism of Brendan Gleeson’s character, including his pride in such:

I’m Irish, sir. Sure, racism is part of my culture.

Less surprisingly, the U.S. trailer focuses more on the fish-out-of-water aspect of Don Cheadle’s character.

Now it remains to be seen which trailer, if either, is better representative of the film.

Do you find one trailer funnier than the other? I think they both work really well, and both made me laugh more than once without making me feel like they’d given away the whole film. Though that remains to be seen as well.

The Guard opens in the U.K. on July 8, and in the U.S. and Canada on July 29.