5 Of Hollywood's Biggest PR Disasters
From the UK Times.... See the second incident involving Christian Bale - at 12 he was showing signs of explosive behaviour.
War of the Worlds
(Steven Spielberg, 2005)
Tom Cruise's couch acrobatics on The Oprah Winfrey Show took the shine off the release. Cruise's decision to sack his long-term publicist and employ his Scientologist sister was blamed by many.
Empire of the Sun
(Steven Spielberg, 1987)
A 12-year-old Christian Bale decided that he had had enough and stormed out of a press conference in Paris.
The Lost Weekend
(Billy Wilder, 1945)
Warner Bros publicist Jim Moran decided to promote Wilder's serious drama about alcoholism by trying to get a hoot owl drunk, to test the American idiom “as drunk as a hoot owl”.
Nine Months
(Chris Columbus, 1995)
On the eve of the release of his rom-com, Hugh Grant was arrested in Hollywood for soliciting the services of prostitute Divine Brown. The story got Grant acres of coverage - and Nine Months flopped.
Fahrenheit 9/11
(Michael Moore, 2004)
Moore arrived in Cannes to promote the film that went on to win the Palme d'Or. Unfortunately, he behaved like such a prima donna that his PR team resigned.
