The marketing of Sofia Coppola’s movies has always been a stylish business, and so it is with her latest, “The Bling Ring” — which opens in the US on June 14, after what is widely presumed will be a Cannes premiere. A couple of weeks ago, the first teaser trailer dropped, and the name of the game was chic but oblique: it told you nothing about the film you wouldn’t already have gleaned from the briefest of online synopses. The film’s new teaser poster, meanwhile, is playing a similar game: it effectively introduces the five characters that make up the titular “ring,” not with faces but via the visual metaphor of their sunglasses. It’s a cutely indirect approach very much in keeping with Coppola’s fashion-conscious sensibility.
“The Bling Ring” is inspired by the true story of a group of Los Angeles teenage girls who successfully burgled the homes of multiple celebrities — including Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan — in 2008 and 2009, using the internet to determine their whereabouts. Though Emma Watson is the film’s biggest star, the poster makes it quite clear that this is an evenly weighted ensemble piece (“the mastermind” described on the poster is played by newcomer Katie Chang). Other cast members include Leslie Mann and Taissa Farmiga (kid sister of Vera, in case you were wondering), with a cameo from Hilton as herself.
The film’s already doing the screening rounds, and I’m hearing positive murmurings. Are you looking forward to it? And what do you make of the poster?