In the statuesque shadow of the Cannes Film Festival stands its dumpier younger sibling, the Marche du Film. That’s where independent producers try to raise money for their movies by securing international distribution deals, frequently using splashy marketing materials to advertise movies that don’t yet exist. It’s essentially a cinema trade show, one that attracts hustlers from all over the world peddling all sorts of crap. Like this, for example:
Before erecting that ad at Cannes, Red Shoes & The 7 Dwarfs, a bit of South Korean-produced anti-body positive foot fetishism starring a presumably pre-hiatus Chloë Grace Moretz, was relatively low profile, the sort of thing that comes to theaters for a week before disappearing with as little fanfare as it came. That’s changed, to put it mildly. (So uh, good job marketing team?)
Now Moretz herself is speaking out against the film, after plus-sized model Tess Holliday asked Moretz to explain herself on Twitter. Moretz responded by saying that the film’s script “resonated with me” and that the animation team’s conflation of size and beauty was “beyond my creative control.” She adds:
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, producer Sujin Hwang says the offending campaign “has been terminated,” which is probably the best option when the star of your movie is trashing it online.
And maybe the poster does misrepresent the film. Maybe the scene shown in the trailer below, where two dwarves look on in disgust as Snow White’s calves thicken and her stomach expands when she takes off her magical red shoes, was misleadingly worded. Maybe the script said the shoes “make her nicer” or something, and the “fat” bit was lost in translation. Either way, she’s still on the hook for making a cheap Shrek knockoff as far as we’re concerned.