Hyperboles Rise. Subtleties Fall. Saul Kahan Thrives.
Occasionally, years will pass between the inspired moment Saul Kahan composes a headline and the moment that headline finally finds the perfect movie to which to attach itself. “I was doing publicity for an ad agency,†the 60-year-old writer recalls, “and the boss told me about the movie and I came up with something off the top of my head.†The boss passed on the headline, so Kahan submitted it for a few other films until it won a place on the poster for “Cannonball Run IIâ€: “The Popcorn’s in the Lobby, the Nuts Are on the Screen.â€
Kahan is one of a cabal of 50 or so writers called upon to generate film headlines, tag lines, “critic’s rave†slogans, “coming soon†teasers and commercial spots. In fact, a few of the most indelible film poster zingers of the past 16 years may have been spawned beneath Kahan’s shower head, where he keeps a pen stuck to the tile with a suction cup in case a particularly brilliant headline strikes.
For “Primary Colors,†Kahan spun out--pre-Monica Lewinsky scandal--the prophetically lewd headline: “What Went Down on the Way to the Top.†His stamp--an incredibly condensed Cliffs Notes, of sorts, to a movie’s plot--plasters newspaper ads and the sides of buses for current films “City of Angels†(“She Didn’t Believe in Angels Until She Fell in Love With Oneâ€) and “Deep Impact†(“Oceans Rise. Cities Fall. Hope Survivesâ€). He scribed the timeless “Naked Gun†caption (“You’ve Read the Ad. Now See the Movieâ€) and dispensed feminist wisdom for “Shirley Valentine†(“Never Underestimate the Power of an Under-estimated Womanâ€). Though he usually works alone, he sometimes shares a credit, as he did with “Deep Impact†or the slightly redundant pitch for “Mission: Impossible†(“Expect the Impossibleâ€).
A former unit publicist on “Animal House†and “Blade Runner,†Kahan completed a USC extension course on ad copywriting. In addition to headline writing, freelance journalism and film publicity work, Kahan composes titles for major motion pictures. After “The Magic Hour†was thrown out, Kahan conjured up the one-word title “Twilight†for the recent Paul Newman film. And he lent some macho panache by naming the Tom Cruise racing vehicle “Days of Thunder.â€
Kahan has applied his gift for pith on film adaptations of some immortal works of literature, including “Rudyard Kipling’s Kim†(“Can a Boy on the Brink of Manhood Save a Nation on the Edge of War?â€) and the 1997 flop remake of “Anna Karenina.†Does he find it strange to lure an audience toward a Tolstoy masterpiece whose merits might be self-evident? “It’s not a general-appeal movie,†Kahan explains. “You can see how they tried to make it one. The headline was ‘In a World of Power and Privilege, One Woman Dared to Obey Her Heart.’ You are appealing to the ‘Dallas’ soap audience even though it’s a classic. That’s how you have to sell it.
“I’ve recently attempted to write the title to the ‘Elmo’ movie,†the headline writer says. “Tomorrow, I might be working on ‘War and Peace.’ â€
Only good movies
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