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Contributors
Michael Levine - Contributor
Michael
Levine is the founder of the prominent public relations
firm Levine Communications Office in Los Angeles. He is
the author of 15 books. www.LCOonline.com -
E-mail:mlevine@LCOonline.com [go
to Levine index]
 Three
Reasons for the Passion Over The Passion
An appreciation from one of Hollywood's most prominent
public relations agents...
[Michael Levine] 3/19/04
Mel Gibson’s new film The
Passion of the Christ had an
unprecedented amount of buzz going by the time it was released.
Without a doubt, it has been one of the most anticipated movies
ever. The Passion of the Christ recreates arguably the single
most significant narrative of Western Civilization with vivid
and unsparing realism. However, one might expect the film’s
manner of depicting its subject to guarantee failure at the box
office. Surprisingly, it has done more than outstandingly well
in ticket sales so far. Examining the promotion of The Passion in the weeks prior to its release reveals, in my professional
opinion, three reasons for the film’s success.
1. The publicity for
Passion made public every production detail of the film well
before its release and promoted them together
as a major selling point for the film. The film, shot in Latin
and Aramaic, was originally to be released without subtitles, "letting
the performances speak for themselves." James Caviezel,
the actor playing Jesus, suffered several major injuries in the
course of his role, including being struck by lightning during
the filming of the Sermon on the Mount. Paula Fredriksen and
other scholars of the New Testament who had criticized the film’s
accuracy were accused by Gibson’s company Icon Productions
of stealing scripts of the then-unreleased film. Gibson himself
announced that he decided to make the film at the tail-end of
a suicidal depression. These are details that are more often
left for DVD "special features"-- not the average TV
or radio spot.
2. In addition to
the interesting tidbits behind the scenes, Gibson’s PR team can attribute their success with The
Passion to the support it received from the grassroots campaign it shamelessly
planted in religious organizations across America. Many religious
groups were anxious to hitch their wagons to The Passion. The
interest was so apparent that these organizations became the
advertisement for the movie itself, not just for the Christian
message it advertised. For example, the Campus Crusade for Christ
broadcast ads during a PAX-TV special on the making of The
Passion about what a major outreach tool the film was, and how it could
help Crusaders spread the Word on college campuses with renewed
fervor. The movie is being used as a form of evangelicalism.
Websites like passiontoolbox.com give resources on how to promote
this movie as a galvanizing tool. Icon, the movie's distributor,
directly marketed to churches by approving materials such as
related tracts, pins, postcards, etc. By doing so, it engaged
churches directly and secured a built-in audience—the congregation.
But Passion’s PR took this message beyond just the Bible
Belt, using the religious endorsements as evidence in press releases
of the film’s educational value.
3. Finally, the success
of Passion’s PR campaign depended
upon promoting the one thing that inevitably follows any movie
about Christ: controversy. It was no accident that the truth
of the most frequently used quote for the movie, "It is
how it was," cannot even be confirmed. While some religious
leaders may or may not be endorsing the film, plenty have done
more than just voice their endorsements. Strategic viewings were
offered to select audiences in churches across the Bible Belt.
Religious groups who saw the film in advance of its release praised
or condemned the film, the main area of controversy, aside from
the film’s incredible goriness, being how much the story
depicted casts guilt on the Jews of the time (and, by extension,
their descendants of today) as responsible for the death of Jesus.
We even heard from high-ranking Vatican officials insisting the
film was not anti-Semitic.
Now in the early stages
of its theatrical run, The Passion has impressed itself on
filmgoers’ minds as more than just
another movie: it contains so much deep significance that its
viewers will have, not just an evening’s entertainment,
but a profound, perhaps life-changing experience. How many movies’ promotional
campaigns even try to get audiences to feel that? Mel Gibson’s
publicity team couldn’t possibly have generated the kind
of marketing success they did without the help of strong advocates
of the movie; in fact, the publicists depended on it. This whole
aspect of independent talk about The Passion spurred the rise
of conferences between Christian and Jewish leaders to discuss
relations and historical significance—a bridge to better
understanding.
So why is The
Passion such a PR success? Because you’ve
got ordinary, everyday people endorsing this movie as if they
were hired-- and getting paid big bucks-- to do so. You’ve
got every possible sphere covered—financial success (over
3000 theaters for an independent film), academic interest (the
scholarly review of gospel evidence), religious enthusiasm (churches
eager for an opportunity to spread Christianity), historical
debate (did the Jews kill Jesus?), and political controversy
(anti-Semitism--what about its effect on audiences abroad?)—all
the makings of a good blockbuster. CRO
copyright
2004 Michael Levine
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