i know im old when something shows up on Buzznet and gets tons of hits and i dont even know wtf its all about. fortunately we hired a couple of young people to bridge the generation gap for us during times like these.
if you recall, two of the kids told me what bands to see at sxsw, of which i posted on this very blog and promptly ignored en masse. my mistake. im dumb.
but now i come back and i look at the stats of Buzznet and someone started posting all these Snakes On A Plane stuff and i was all, kids, what the hell is Snakes on a Plane and they said why do you ask, and i showed them this on Buzznet and they were all whoa! and they clicked through it and laughed and i laughed and they laughed and everyone laughed.
essentially, Samuel L. Jackson was given a script for a movie that started shooting last year. this movie was simply called, “Snakes On A Plane.”
According to various interviews (not hearsay), Jackson repeatedly emphasizesd that he agreed to do the movie after only reading the title on the cover of the script.
however, after signing on, the studio felt the title was too obvious and changed it to “Pacific Air Flight 121.” Jackson then urged the producers to change it back, that “Snakes On A Plane” was a much better title. not sure if they took his advice, but apparently the kids on the internets have embraced the title as well and have taken to photoshopping not only their own versions of the poster but versions of sequels and spin offs.
thats where the hilarity ensued on the web and recently on Buzznet. heres how it happened:
a few tidbits of information about the movie was found on the profile for the film on IMBD. It was discovered by some mysterious person, using the original ad template for the movie mixed with Photoshop/MSPaint to create alternate titles/sequels to the movie.
That creation spurned boards like the AFI fansite board.despairfaction.com to continue this photoshop-love of the film and the kids literally made 100 new parodies/wordplays of the “Snakes On A Plane” title, using the same template.
most of those found their way onto Buzznet while we were all at sxsw.
Even though the movie is still in post-production there are shirts already. There are entire comics devoted to the subject of not the real film but the photoshopped faux films.
Part of the underground appeal is that Jackson acknowledges the internet fandom/obsession and the grassroots humor of the entire situation.
me, i just like the title.
snakes on a plane – the real trailer + 108 snakes on a plane parody pictures + far more info about the whole shebang than is probably necessary