Clearly the work of Neil Kellerhouse is something I appreciate as the RopeofSilicon logo was inspired by his title treatment for David Fincher‘s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He’s designed plenty of Criterion Collection covers — Thin Red Line, The Seventh Seal, Walkabout — and along with the art for Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo, he sort of set the stage for the rise in massive type over a film protagonist’s face with his art for The Social Network.
Well, A24 commissioned Kellerhouse to make some posters for Jonathan Glazer‘s upcoming film Under the Skin, which stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien in human form, roaming through Scotland, “consuming” all she can.
I caught the film at the Toronto Film Festival last year and in my review I called it a “highly existential experiment”, adding:
[W]riter/director Jonathan Glazer (along with co-writer Walter Campbell) have loosely adapted Michel Faber‘s 2000 novel into a story of an alien being come to Earth to harvest humans for sustenance and, in the process, finds compassion for her victims only to find with compassion comes injury. This, at least, is my interpretation of what I see as a highly cynical look at humanity, our judgment of others and mistreatment of those we don’t understand.
I’d call it a curiosity and a film that is likely to divide audiences and will certainly find larger appreciation in the art house crowd.
As far as my headline is concerned, according to an interview with Glazer at The Guardian, the story went through several iterations, one of which featured Brad Pitt as one of a pair of aliens masquerading as a Scottish farmer and his wife. The film eventually focused on the female character, Pitt moved on and now we have a finished project due in theaters April 4.
Getting back to the posters, I’ve included the lot (via Total Film) directly below and while the imagery is striking, I guess I’m not entirely impressed with them as works of “art” considering they are nothing more than scenes from the film, chopped down to poster size. Kellerhouse certainly has an eye for an appealing image, but I’m having a hard time being all that impressed.
What do you think? Also, find more of Kellerhouse’s work right here.
