Is murder as American as apple pie?
That seems to be the unintended message of a poster with stars Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin linking the romantic thriller “Labor Day,’’ which opens Jan. 31, to National Pie Day on Jan. 23.
A spokeswoman for the American Pie Council, Mary Deatrick, said the tie-in poster was distributed to pie shops and bakeries nationwide.
“It’s not just dessert, it’s a tradition,’’ reads the poster copy from the American Pie Council. “Throughout our lives it’s always been there, like family and friends. It doesn’t matter if it’s Apple, Cherry and Chocolate Cream. It makes the time we spend together, just a little sweeter. Pie. Grab a slice of life.’’
Apple pie-making does indeed have a prominent scene in “Labor Day,’’ which a press release gushes “shares the APC’s message of passing down pie-making skills from generation to generation.’’
But what makes this a truly eccentric choice for a promotion is that Brolin plays a convicted murderer who escapes from prison. He holds Winslet and her 13-year-old son, played by Gattlin Griffith, as hostages. A bond does emerge between Brolin and his hostages before he surrenders to police. But still.
The APC’s press release does cop to the fact that Brolin is playing an escaped convict, “a man both intimidating and in need of help.’’ But it omits the fact that before they all make pies together, he abducts them from a supermarket and ties both of them up, as you can see from the trailer below.
Which may come as a bit of a surprise to the winner of the private viewing party being given away as a prize on the APC’s Facebook page.
APC executive director Linda Dailey told Marketing Daily this was the first time her group has partnered with a movie studio on a promotion, though pies have been prominently featured in movies like “Waitress’’ and “American Pie.’’
“With the movie coming out, we’d sure like to encourage people to teach each other how to make pie,’’ she said. “It certainly encourages the pie-making process, and we’re very excited to be a part of it.”
Deatrick said she didn’t believe the APC paid Paramount Pictures for use of an image in the poster, or subsidized the movie. The studio did not immediately respond to a request for comment.