Apologies for failing to quickly acknowledge and suitably mourn the death of Drew Struzan, the celebrated movie-poster guy who passed on 10.13.
I feel especially sorry for anyone who’s had to grapple with the cruel oppressions of Al Z. Heimer….poor fellow. Hugs and condolences to fans, friends and colleagues.
This said, Struzan’s big-studio posters, effective as they were, were solely focused on the mainstream sell. Which is what movie one-sheets are expected to do, of course — instantly sell the movie to the lowest-common-denominator dummies.
And yet the very best ones deliver the sell plus something else…something angular, striking, artful, unexpected. And in so doing they attract moviegoers who are (a) repelled by the generic and (b) looking for something edgy or atypical.
Here are three posters, no offense, that delivered something more…
