How Do Movie Pull Quotes Work? Let's Answer Some Electronic Mail

Thank you, again, for being a subscriber to The Hard Pass. And especially if you are a paid subscriber because that is the only thing that keeps this newsletter chugging along. This week The Hard Pass delivered reviews of Digger (which is now, somehow, immortalized in a commercial for the film with the quote, "unpleasant," and is the source of this week's question) and a review of Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's crazy and terrific documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, You Can See Everything.

Okay, here is this week's question.

I saw your social media post about Digger quoting your negative reaction in a commercial. How did that happen? Did you know that was coming? How does this usually work anyway? – Gary

No, I did not know that was coming. I actually found out when a friend of mine texted me. In the week prior three separate people had told me, "I hope 'Unpleasant' winds up on a Digger poster." It's a funny thing to say because this would never happen, and then it kind of did.

I did laugh out loud when I saw it. But there's no way Tom Cruise wasn't involved in approving this. And after Cruise as Digger says, "fuck these people," yeah, it's kind of hard to ignore that my name pops up three times. I suspect I will not be added to Tom Cruise's coconut cake list this year. But I do think the ad is clever. At this point, might as well just own it.

But how do movie pull quotes quotes usually wind up in commercials? Well, first of all, the quote is usually positive. But this is, surprisingly, a little bit of a controversial subject so, in an effort to be completely honest about how this works, the rest will have to be for paid subscribers only.

(The Hard Pass only exists because of paying subscribers and I do need to have posts just for them. If you decide to become a paying subscriber today, there is plenty left to this post, plus a lot more like the story a famous person told me about Tom Cruise, Digger himself, that is now my favorite Tom Cruise story; accidentally tricking a Lost actor into telling me the ending; and the time Larry King called me a "freak" and asked if I was "a nerd.")