The Screening Room Blog
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Pacino poster in painful ad pairing

(LONDON, England) -- Ad planners take meticulous care picking the sites for their glossies, making sure that their artwork reaches the right people, at the right time, in the right place.

But sometimes, one slips through the net.

Reports of a blogger's photograph apparently showing the unfortunate placement of a poster for the Pacino/De Niro comeback vehicle, “Righteous Kill,” at Stockwell underground station in London, England have made people wince. The inappropriate juxtaposition might not be immediately apparent – until you see the movie’s tagline:

“There’s nothing wrong with a little shooting as long as the right people get shot”

For those in the know, it’s a painful pairing: Stockwell station was the site where unarmed Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police, who mistook him for a suicide bomber. The shooting led to the Metropolitan Police’s prosecution under health and safety law.

The offending posters appear to have been quickly removed. But, as London newspaper The Guardian comments, “Suddenly that tagline starts looking a little less funny.”

Have you seen any other inappropriately placed posters or unfortunate juxtpositions? Let us know below.

-- From CNN's Linnie Rawlinson

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Monday, September 15, 2008
'I wish it had been sooner,' says De Niro of 'Righteous Kill'

LONDON, England -- Movie godfathers Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have finally been reunited on the big screen -- but De Niro regrets how long it has taken.

"I wish it had been sooner," he told me on the red carpet at London's Leicester Square just before the film's UK premiere, "It's not so easy to get projects going. I wish, though, in spite of that that I had been more personally proactive ... and hopefully we'll do another project sooner than 13 years." Watch video of De Niro at the "Righteous Kill" premiere above.

The last film they were seen in together was Michael Mann's 1995 LA crime saga "Heat." Their shared screen time is a climactic six minute scene in a diner, which, at the time was likened to "Ben Hur sitting down and acting with Spartacus," by the New York Times. This time, they are acting together in almost every scene.

After all this time, though, according to De Niro who was first on board for the project (which is why he gets top billing), the genesis of their reunion was pretty spontaneous. He simply suggested Pacino to director, John Avnet: "I said, 'What about Al?' and that's how it started."

Pacino for his part says: "I thought, 'This is an opportunity to work with Bob again, and I'll take it.'"

With two such big names in one film, you might expect a bit of rivalry. Pacino says maybe in the old days but not now: "Early on in our careers I think there had to be a little bit when we were younger but I think we've gone past that.

"My rivalry is with Dustin Hoffman -- and Brad Pitt!"

For more from the "Righteous Kill" red carpet and clips from the film watch or subscribe to the Screening Room podcast.

-- From CNN's Mairi Mackay

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