Simpsons mania infects nation
Posted 07.23.07 by reelz
The Simpsons Movie opens this weekend, and Fox is dialing up the pre-opening activity to generate excitment--as though they needed any more press than two-decades' worth of dedicated viewership and pop-culture domination.
Last Monday, BurgerKing jumped on the Simpsons Movie bandwagon with the website SimpsonizeMe.com, on which fans can upload digital photos and then see themselves transformed into yellow Simpsons characters. The site had gotten almost 32 million hits within just days of its launch, says The Hollywood Reporter.
On Saturday, Springfield, VT (pop. 9,300) rolled out the yellow carpet for the official Simpsons Movie premiere, reportsYahoo! News. So, did Simpsons creator Matt Groening always have Vermont in mind for the ubiquitously-titled Springfield of Bart et al.? Not exactly.
Springfields in 14 states vied in a USA Today poll to win the opportunity to host the premiere. Springfield, VT wasn't even initially in the running, but successfully lobbied for inclusion thanks to a home-made video of Homer (played by a local talk-show host) chasing a large pink donut through down.
Meanwhile, Groening appeared on the popular Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He also did an interview with the New York Times Magazine, where he revealed that the inspiration for Marge's blue bouffant came from a combo of the Bride of Frankenstein and his mother's own beehive 'dos, says MSN.
He also revealed that the presidential office in his movie is occupied by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not to say the Governator is voicing it--Harry Shearer is doing that, but he just thought "We needed a president that would make people laugh. And Schwarzenegger was the obvious choice."
Doh.