Walk Hard: Movie Trailers as Joke Setups

In the wake of SuperBad success, people are already looking to the next Apatow production, which conveniently enough had its trailer in front of the aforementioned film. The movie is Walk Hard and it looks to be a parody of the overinflated music biopics that have been common the past few years like “Walk the Line” and “Ray.” There’s two trailers out there for Walk Hard and it’s little interesting how they differ in details in setting up the concept.

The first trailer is far more broad, which kind of hints at a more Airplane-esque tone. It’s also shorter by a minute and a half.

The second trailer is longer and far more subtle, emphasizing how closely Walk Hard satirizes the biopics. It’s done in the same tone as one, and thus some of the jokes that are in the first trailer are edited a bit different. For example, Dewey isn’t shown singing as a boy, because it’s so preposterous it ruins this setup. Instead, you get that uncanny blues man look on his face and the fingering on the guitar, which is almost as preposterous but just a better fit for this setup. Another little subtle change is a scene where Dewey’s wife confront him about his dream. In the other trailer, the crying from a ridiculous number of babie is in the background. In this one, it’s not.

Obviously this is all marketing, but it’s interesting to look at the differences because each I think promises a slightly different movie. Are we looking for something that’s more “throw and see what sticks” or a slightly more targeted satire. The punchline comes December 21, when Walk Hard opens in theaters.