Meet Scott Pilgrim's World -- One Picture at a Time

Coming up with new ways to market a movie can't be easy, but every once in a while, one comes along that grabs my attention.

Coming on the heels of the viral campaign for "The Dark Knight," the makers of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" have embarked of a "viral campaign" of a different sort.

In the movie, which is based on a comic book series by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim (played by Michael Cera) must defeat the seven "evil ex-boyfriends" of delivery girl Ramona V. Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) in order to date her. Among the actors portaying the exes are Brandon Routh, Chris Evans and Jason Schwartzman.

For the past several weeks, director Edgar Wright has released a photo every day through his MySpace page of something to do with the movie. Some of the shots are as mundane as photos from the set or the title page of the script, but the best ones have been the cast shots.
Wright has taken pictures of the cast members, typically one at a time, holding a picture of the character they are playing.

The idea of releasing a photo a day is ingenious in its simplicity. Every day, Wright posts a pic on MySpace. Then, that pic is posted on message boards throughout the world. Which equals a ton of free publicity. The possible downside is that audiences could be tired of the very idea of the movie before it even hits the theater (which will be sometime in 2010). But, at least for now, it's a fun idea.

In addition to actors I already have listed, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" also will feature Mae Whitman ("Arrested Development"), Kieran Culkin ("Father of the Bride") and Anna Kendrick ("Twilight").

For those interested, here is a link to all of the photos released so far from the movie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgarwright/sets/72157612796619700.

  

The newest picture to be released from "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" shows: Brandon Routh as Todd Ingram, a rock star with vegan psychic powers, at left; Brie Larson as Envy Adams, who fronts the band The Clash at Demonhead, at right; and an unnamed actress as drummer Lynette Guycott.