I knew that Eli Roth, director of Hostel and Hostel 2, was in Quentin Tarantino's new movie, Inglourious Basterds. He is even in the trailer. But lots of people are in the trailer. Samm Levine is in the trailer.
Samm Levine is not, however, on a poster.
Yikes. Personally, I'm not a fan of Eli Roth's directing work because I feel like the world is a bad enough place and life is difficult as it is without actual images of horrific torture being burned into my face. But that's just me. I recognize that lots of people love watching humanity pushed past its breaking point to a soundtrack of blood-cold shrieking, and somehow in my honest desire for everyone to have fun and do what they want to do while we're alive as long as it doesn't actually hurt anyone else, I am forced to accept that this is fair enough. Besides, Cabin Fever was pretty good! But I don't think there's any confusion about Eli Roth as an actor, is there? He is not very good at it. In fact, if I had to rank him, I would say that he is just slightly more talented than another director-would-be-movie-star: Quentin Tarantino.
But a movie poster is a really big deal. It has only a few seconds, a cursory glance, to win you over and convince you to invest your time and 12 dollars. Steve Zahn didn't even make it onto the poster for his new movie, and Steve Zahn is great. This movie posters says "Eli Roth is a box office draw." This movie poster says "the people want more Eli Roth."
Eli Roth is America's boyfriend.
