Last month Paramount released Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation in preparation for the film’s nationwide release tomorrow, and it seems one of the film’s stars has a bit of a bone to pick with how the studio’s marketing department chose to portray the film’s female lead in her poster.
“When the posters came out, it was me in a jacket, Tom [Cruise] in a jacket, Jeremy [Renner] in a jacket, Ving [Rhames] in a jacket and Rebecca [Ferguson] in leather with her [butt] sticking out.” That’s Simon Pegg talking to USA Today about Rogue Nation‘s poster campaign, and he seems pretty disappointed by it as he went on to add, “It was like, ‘No, don’t do that.’ We’re doing something good here. Trying to, at least.”
Pegg certainly has a point. For reference, here are the six character posters Paramount released for the film’s male stars…
… all finely groomed and clothed in very cool-looking jackets. And then here is the one the studio released of Ferguson. Notice she is the only one sexily straddling a bike with her butt facing the camera.
This seems to be the way marketing works today — the way it has been working for years, really, just see the bottom of this post — but while Ferguson’s portrayal on the poster doesn’t really come as a surprise, it is nice to see someone like Pegg making his opinions known. Sex sells, no doubt, but we are also entering a time in our culture where more and more people are speaking out against stuff like this. Pegg’s comments aren’t going to change the entire course of movie marketing, but I’d count it as a small victory.
Brad has already heaped praise upon Ferguson’s performance in Rogue Nation, writing, “I wouldn’t mind seeing Ferguson return for the next Mission as this franchise could use a bit of consistency as far as the females are concerned and none have been better than she is here. … Strong, decisive and confident, Ferguson stands out for who her character is as much as the choreographed action sequences she’s asked to pull off.” Well alright then.
If all goes according to plan today I should be seeing this latest franchise installment tonight in IMAX, and I gotta say, I’m really excited for it. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation hits theaters nationwide tomorrow.
