Sex doll comedy hopes for divine help

By Gregg Goldstein

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - How do you market a wholesome, old-fashioned film about a churchgoer who falls in love with his sex doll? Grass-roots screenings with religious groups, maybe?

That's one of the novel approaches being taken with the marketing campaign for director Craig Gillespie's unexpectedly poignant comedy "Lars and the Real Girl," which opens Friday in Los Angeles and New York.

"Half Nelson" Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling plays Lars, a painfully shy loner who lives in the garage next to his brother and sister-in-law's house. Crushed by the loss of his parents, he orders a lifelike doll named Bianca over the Web and convinces himself that she's his girlfriend. The local doctor (Patricia Clarkson) persuades his family, his small town and even his church to help him by going along with the delusion and accept Bianca as a real person.

There's nothing really prurient in the film, which earned a mild PG-13 rating for "some sex-related content." Lars and Bianca sleep in separate houses. There's a discreet scene in which Bianca's potential in-laws bathe her, but while some silicone is exposed, her anatomical correctness is never shown.

The film's producer, Sidney Kimmell Entertainment (SKE), plans more than 100 promo screenings by the time the film goes wide on October 26 including, yes, outreach to church leaders.

"We've found an enormous response from mainstream Christian groups," says Bingham Ray, who heads up SKE's distribution operations. "Some pastors may discuss the film as part of their sermons."

The trailer doesn't intentionally misrepresent the film's tone, but it does feature Bianca in ridiculous situations (holding a baby, sitting in church), making it tough to convey the film's themes of acceptance, tolerance and kindness.

"It's a hurdle we're trying to work with," Gillespie says. "I'm hoping the campaign will put more weight on Ryan's performance and the emotional journey that's happening to his character as it rolls out."

Ray says the marketing drive is likely to evolve.

Gillespie has reason to be nervous. His feature debut, "Mr. Woodcock," was passed to "Wedding Crashers" director David Dobkin after poor test screenings where audiences expected a different tone based on the premise. The Billy Bob Thornton comedy has earned just $23 million after four weekends.

"The concept of a gym teacher falling in love with his student's mom wasn't suited to mining the damaged relationship between a mother and son and Freudian triangle (issues)," he says. "A lot of comedies are suited to being dark and subtle, and that was not one of them. I think it was my own undoing."

With "Lars," Gillespie made the film he wanted to make with his backers' full support.

After the former commercials director spent four years unsuccessfully shopping Nancy Oliver's screenplay to the indies, the project came together in five days. Gillespie arranged a meeting with SKE, which produced such films as the FBI thriller "Breach" and the upcoming Afghan drama "The Kite Runner." He then sent the script to Gosling on a Friday. By Monday he had agreed to star, and SKE agreed to produce the $12 million film that Wednesday.

Now comes the hard part. The movie earned a rapturous reception at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, but whether audiences can or will ignore the sex doll in the room remains to be seen.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter