USA: Demi Moore and David Duchovny sell the American dream in "The Joneses," a dark comedy about subliminal marketing tactics

Record ID: 219559

  • Title: USA: Demi Moore and David Duchovny sell the American dream in "The Joneses," a dark comedy about subliminal marketing tactics
  • Date: 9th April 2010
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (APRIL 08, 2010) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF RED CARPET PREMIERE OF "THE JONESES" STARS DAVID DUCHOVNY AND DEMI MOORE POSING FOR PICTURES CUTAWAY OF PHOTOGRAPHERS MOORE AND DUCHOVNY ON RED CARPET ASHTON KUTCHER USING MOBILE PHONE ACTRESS LAUREN HUTTON ON THE RED CARPET MOORE TALKING TO REPORTERS DUCHOVNY TALKING TO REPORTERS
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA9TRTIQG7AUBU5ZR83OK7758UJ
  • Story Text: Actors David Duchovny and Demi Moore star as a seemingly picture perfect couple in "The Joneses," and the pair were on hand Thursday night (April 8) for the red carpet launch of the film.
    In "The Joneses," Duchovny and Moore play an undercover sales team posing as husband and wife, who settle into an upscale suburban town and influence their wealthy neighbors to buy products through subliminal marketing. Both actors believe the film, although glitzy, flashy and loaded with product placement, takes a critical view of American consumerism and the desire to "keep up with the Joneses," as the famous phrase and the film itself suggest.
    "I really do feel that the most important message is not that there's anything wrong with our desire for nice things, things that are new, cutting edge, great car, great house, great job, it's just that at the end of the day, you know, that cliche of saying that 'if we get to the end of our life, no one's asking for an extra day of work, nobody's going to say 'I wish I had that YSL bag,' they're going to say, 'I wish I had another day with the people I loved,' and I think at the heart of it, this is what it's trying to communicate," says Demi Moore.
    Like the lifestyle sold by the film's characters, "The Joneses" has a sleek, luxurious look, but appearances can be deceiving: the film was completely independent and made on a very tight budget. As a way to cut production costs, the filmmakers decided to turn the film into an advertisement itself, with product placements from companies like Audi, Yves Saint Laurent, Ethan Allen, and more. David Duchovny calls the move to product placement hypocritical yet necessary.
    "It's completely hypocritical, isn't it? But it's hard to make an independent film. You gotta get your money somewhere, and in fact, some of the money for this film comes from that product placement, when you're talking about a big studio," says Duchovny. "I think without the product placement in this little film that we made, the film doesn't get made," he adds.
    Although the fake family portrayed in "The Joneses" manipulates the people of the town they inhabit, both stars of the film were able to look sympathetically upon their characters, as people looking for a way to make a living in a bleak economy.
    "Particularly for my character, I think she's spent a lot of her life perfecting the art of what she does, and definitely doesn't judge it. I think she just wants to succeed at what she's doing, but I think in doing so, she's blinded herself to this huge gaping hole of emptiness, because she has nothing but that," says Moore.
    "Well, we try to give them a heart, you know. These are people that needed a job, you know, they take a job that maybe other people can sit back and say that's a nasty job to have there's something immoral about it, but people do need to work, and these are those people," says Duchovny.
    "The Joneses" opens in a limited release April 16.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register