maxbarry.com
Sun 23
Sep
2012

Syrup movie teaser

Syrup Somehow an Amber Heard fansite got hold of a “Syrup” teaser that had been made up for distribution people, and posted it to YouTube. This is the same teaser I saw in February but wasn’t allowed to show anyone. But now it’s out there!

Syrup teaser on YouTube

If you want a second-by-second analysis of exactly which lines are from the book and which I wrote for the screenplay and which they added and where I was standing when they filmed what, I am totally prepared to do that.

Comments

This is where site members post comments. If you're not a member, you can join here. There are all kinds of benefits, including moral superiority!

Karan (#1376)

Location: Sydney, Australia
Quote: "Quid Quid Latine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur - Anything said in Latin sounds important"
Posted: 4203 days ago

"If you want a second-by-second analysis..."

Yes. Yes already!

Chris McBride (#1977)

Location: Belfast, N.Ireland
Quote: "Plagiarism saves thinking time"
Posted: 4203 days ago

I see the trailer concentrates more on the Scat vs 6 romance thingy than on the satirical elements, but I can live with that. If that's how they're going to get bums on seats, so be it.

What's the name of the main song used in the trailer? I know the song in the beginning is "They" by Jem.

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4203 days ago

Music: "When I'm Small" by Phantogram.

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4203 days ago

Romance: Yep, this teaser obviously focuses on the love story--which I'm really happy about, because that's the part of the book that producers kept wanting to throw out in favor of corporate hijinks. I always argued the love story is core. It's not the whole story, but it's got to be there.

The movie overall, although I still haven't seen it, I'm optimistic will hit the right balance between the biz/marketing story and the love story--that's one of the major reasons I've been so happy with the guys making this, they understood that from the start.

Machine Man subscriber Bushra (#36)

Location: Fremont, California
Quote: "www.caffeinatedmuslim.com"
Posted: 4203 days ago

Looks really cool Max! When is the release date?

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4203 days ago

TEASER INSIDE INFO, one thing, the part of the with the actor credits:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQYX_8zOawU&t=0m59s

All the vision under Amber, Shiloh, and Brittany's names is from the same scene: the very first scene filmed with Amber that I blogged about here, at the top of the Met Life building:

www.maxbarry.com/2011/06/11/news.html

So after they were done, and bear in mind that Amber is kind of spitting poison throughout this scene, she comes stalking up to me on enormous high heels (clack clack CLACK CLACK CLACK, in the cavernous space), still with her game face on, and says, "Mr. Barry, it's a pleasure to meet you." It was beautiful and terrifying.

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4203 days ago

Release date: they won't tell me for sure. But I think it's close now.

Chris (#6002)

Location: Canada
Posted: 4203 days ago

This looks amazing :D Can't wait!

Chris (#6002)

Location: Canada
Posted: 4203 days ago

Also - Will you be making a cameo appearance in the film Max?

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4203 days ago

Dude. OF COURSE.

Machine Man subscriber Electrichead (#3898)

Location: Toronto
Posted: 4203 days ago

This looks absolutely amazing! And I would say that even if I wasn't a member of your fan-site, I mean blog.

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4203 days ago

You mean my fablog.

syrup6 (#1224)

Location: Arkansas
Quote: ""Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion" - Kierkegaard"
Posted: 4203 days ago

I want to change it to read 'based on the cult novel by Max(x?) Barry'. Is that so hard?

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4203 days ago

I want the second X to fuzz in and out so you're not sure you saw it!

Machine Man subscriber tim (#3234)

Location: chattanooga, TN, USA
Quote: """
Posted: 4203 days ago

Looks great, really looking forward to seeing the talking version of the book that made me decide to major in marketing, all the way back in 2000. I would say that I am well read for someone that doesn't read and I have easily read syrup more times than any other, with the love hexagon being a close second. I often find myself tracing a preconceived notion back to something i read in your book (creepy, right?). I'm still having a hard time with a fuller figured, blonde, 6 but I'm sure ill get over it. Scat looks about right so thanks, to whomever, for that. Will you make it to the premier?

Sally F. (#5444)

Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Quote: "Budokan made Cheap Trick famous, Cheap Trick made Budokan famous. -Rick Nielsen"
Posted: 4203 days ago

Favorite part - "From the Cult Novel Syrup".

syrup6 (#1224)

Location: Arkansas
Quote: ""Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion" - Kierkegaard"
Posted: 4203 days ago

I agree, totally love Shiloh as Scat, totally miss the dark hair on 6 and L.A. though. I'll get over it, I'm sure. And I like the idea of the X, you've obsessed over this much longer than we have :)

Tommy Mandel (#2554)

Location: nYc
Quote: ""Hah," she said."
Posted: 4203 days ago

Great trailer! I too worried that there was too little focus in the trailer on the marketing after its awesome beginning. But reading Max(x?)'s reassurances, ah so'd me. Great music editing too. Loved the cast, though I, too, had a different prevision of 6. Max should fit right in, visually. Congrats, Cult Author!

Machine Man subscriber coolpillows (#3749)

Location: new york general sort of vicinity
Quote: ""It's not working" -- Joseph Clark"
Posted: 4203 days ago

Love it. So that's a "teaser" I guess b/c it doesn't have the MPAA approved for all audiences crap??

BTW, it would be called a red band trailer b/c he says a bad word in the first 10 seconds. But then, it's a teaser...can't wait!

Machine Man subscriber Roger (#1653)

Posted: 4203 days ago

I honestly wasn't sure if Syrup could translate well onto the big screen, and seeing this trailer...I still feel that way some. Maybe its the heavy emphasis on the romance angle which, while still prominent in the book, strikes me as odd. The thing I liked about the book is how atypical and one-sided it was. No matter hard much Scat pushed, the most he ever seemed to get out of 6 was slight admiration. Even towards the end, when she finally got emotional, you still weren't quite sure if it was a scheme or not. In the trailer, it looks too heavy handed, and a bit cliched, unless the scene of them having hot steamy sex on a table is just one of Scat's fantasies. And did she pull a gun on him?

Consider me the odd man out, but I will reserve final judgement for when I see the film.

Sorry Max.

Karan (#1376)

Location: Sydney, Australia
Quote: "Quid Quid Latine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur - Anything said in Latin sounds important"
Posted: 4203 days ago

Now that I've actually had a chance to see the trailer... colour me confused, I'd say. I know the love story was there and a big part of the story, but the corporate hijinks is what made this story different from others, at least in my mind. I'd really like to see more in the trailer about that side because otherwise this just looks like a romance set in a vaguely corporate world... but then I suppose this is a teaser? Plus, I really wanted to see the design of the Fu*k can :D

Machine Man subscriber Kyle (#3321)

Location: Burnie, Tasmania
Posted: 4203 days ago

I don't remember it being a relationship drama..

Machine Man subscriber tim (#3234)

Location: chattanooga, TN, USA
Quote: """
Posted: 4203 days ago

@roger... I was thinking the 'hot steamy table sex' scene was @, an anti-6 automaton twisted by Pete's evil, jumping on Scat. You don't get a good look at her face but I know she was supposed to look like 6, except blonde. Of course now 6 is blonde so should @ be a brunette?

will there be a lot of overvoice or will all the story telling be left to dialogue? it seems like the best parts of the book were Scat thinking through his issues or making observations. Maybe they cast a sidekick that Scat contstantly talks to about his problems, and his genius.

Machine Man subscriber St0rmyC (#4345)

Location: Kansas
Posted: 4203 days ago

So, has the product name and company been changed for the film? This is probably the only driving question I have. Otherwise, I can't wait to see it.

Chelsea (#5402)

Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posted: 4203 days ago

ooh! i'm excited now!
i love the book so i was so worried that it was gonna be a disappointment. but the trailer looks good! :D

towr (#1914)

Location: Netherlands
Posted: 4203 days ago

"Not as good as the book" Oh wait, still a bit too early for that, isn't it? :P

Machine Man subscriber SRD (#2889)

Location: Ogden, Utah
Posted: 4202 days ago

This looked better than I thought it would. Syrup is one of my favorite books of all time, and it actually heavily influenced my own creative ventures. I was kind of worried that a movie might damage the credibility of the novel if it wasn't executed well. But this trailer reminded me of the 2005 movie "Thank You For Smoking," which is a film that also heavily influences much of my work. The Christopher Buckley novel is excellent, but I thought the film was superior. And because this trailer reminds me of TYFS, my uneasiness regarding the Syrup film has mellowed considerably. But blah, blah, blah.

Oodge (#2790)

Location: Tas
Quote: "'Ooh look Marge, Maggie lost her baby legs.'"
Posted: 4202 days ago

^^ 'Thank You For Smoking' is exactly what I thought of when I first heard of the movie really going ahead. I wanted Eckhart to be Scat!

Machine Man subscriber Roger (#1653)

Posted: 4202 days ago

I don't know how I came to this conclusion, but Lou Reed's "Turn Off The Light" matches up with the trailer eerily well.

@Tim,
I know the first scene is with @ in the office, but the second scene is clearly Scat and 6 in her apartment, I'm guessing after their confrontation in the rain.

Machine Man subscriber tim (#3234)

Location: chattanooga, TN, USA
Quote: """
Posted: 4202 days ago

@roger,
oh, the 2nd table sex scene... I didn't catch that there was more than one... guess you can't have enough steamy table sex. Could it have been Cindy? There are so many blondes in this story now it's hard to tell who is supposed to be who. If it is steamy table sex with 6 than I agree, that is disappointing. The unrequited sexual tension helped drive the story for me. Look what happened after John Travolta and Cybil Sheppard sealed the deal on moonlighting; killed it. Like the great Barry once said, it's not the naked woman that is exciting, it is the possibility of the naked woman--- so similarly it is with sex on screen, at least in my experience.

I am hoping the steamy sex is Scat's dream while sleeping on the floor, ala The Tourist (Depp version).

Machine Man subscriber tim (#3234)

Location: chattanooga, TN, USA
Quote: """
Posted: 4202 days ago

willis, not travolta.

Machine Man subscriber SRD (#2889)

Location: Ogden, Utah
Posted: 4202 days ago

This makes me want to read the book again.

Chris (#6002)

Location: Canada
Posted: 4201 days ago

Maaaayyyy have just re-read Syrup because of this...

...In less than two days...

...What flavour of Kool-aid shall we toast you with Max(x?) :D

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4201 days ago

"Thank You For Smoking" -- that (brilliant) book came out around the same time as "Syrup," and the director of the (excellent) film, Jason Reitman, helped us through a couple drafts. He is a fearsomely smart guy.

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4201 days ago

I just realized I should clarify that before it becomes another horribly wrong rumor. Jason didn't write for "Syrup." What he did was read a couple of drafts and provide feedback. I think this is called GIVING NOTES. He NOTED.

Machine Man subscriber Roger (#1653)

Posted: 4201 days ago

He ghost-wrote the entire thing. Gotcha ;)

Petter Saltsten (#6048)

Posted: 4197 days ago

Hi,

The trailer looks awesome. Read this book many years ago, and although I only remember parts of the plot now, I remember I really enjoyed it. Since then I've been working with branding and CRM. Questions: 1) Is the main focus in the movie about the love story or the marketing/business plot?, 2) Don't remember the trailer-scene where Scat tries to escape with 6 over his shoulder. Is that in the book or did you write that for the screenplay? 3) Which character is Brittany Snows portraying in the movie? Thanks for the replies. Really looking forward to the movie!

PS

Hugh (#5575)

Location: Adelaide
Posted: 4197 days ago

I first took that scene to be one of the many times Scat retrieves the clothes that have been thrown out of the window after him, but now you have me wondering...

Anyhow, can't wait to see the movie, it looks terrific!

Kaylie (#6055)

Posted: 4196 days ago

Congratulations, Max! It looks amazing. Quite proud of you.

Machine Man subscriber David (#1456)

Location: Sydney, Australia
Quote: "Why are the pretty ones always insane?"
Posted: 4194 days ago

I cannot wait for this movie! Must reread the book first though. I totally agree the romance had to remain, without that it wouldn't work, balance is all Hollywood.

I hope it's a huge success Max(x). Though even a "cult success" to match the "cult novel" they say it's based on would be kinda cool...

TonyViet (#6215)

Location: NY
Quote: "USA"
Posted: 4096 days ago

Hello there, You have done an incredible job. I will definitely digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.

Comments are now closed for this post.