After finishing the script for Looper, writer/director Rian Johnson developed a pitch reel for the film in collaboration with his brother Zach Johnson, Ronen Verbit and even bringing Joseph Gordon-Levitt in to voice the piece.
You’ll notice scenes from films such as Blade Runner, Seven, The Fugitive and J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek are included in brief snippets to help present an idea for the tone of the film while also helping show how the rather odd story could be presented on film.
Here’s how Johnson describes it:
This is a strange curiosity I thought might be interesting – just after I finished the script for Looper but before we began preproduction I asked Joe to record some voice-over, and with help from my friend Ronen Verbit constructed this “fake trailer” using clips from other movies. This is a fairly common thing to do when you’re trying to get a movie off the ground, but it was the first time I tried it. It was meant to show more some of the film’s tone, and to show how the odd concept could be presented in a clear and compelling way in the marketing. Zach Johnson did the sketches. Note that we hadn’t begun the casting process yet, and the clips were chosen just based on their visuals and not by who is in them.
Check it out below and if you haven’t already, check out Johnson’s audio commentary for the film he has already made available for use in the theater if you so choose.
