Actor Alan Cumming has taken on many unique roles throughout his career. So it’s surprising that a 2001 musical comedy, “Josie and the Pussycats,” still lives rent-free in his head.
Cummings contends that the film would have been a much bigger success had it been marketed properly.
“My strongest memory and feeling about ‘Josie and the Pussycats‘ is that it was a marketing disaster,” he told InStyle. “It was totally marketed to the wrong audience.”
At the time, the movie “was marketed to tweens,” despite the fact that “it’s a very adult film.”
Based on the 1960s comic of the same name, the live-action film stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson. It centers around the titular girl group on (what they think is) their path to stardom. However, they soon find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy to deliver subliminal messages through pop music.
The Mismarketing of “Josie and the Pussycats“
“It’s about sort of adult themes about the way that commerce is infiltrating our culture — it’s a fun comedy, but it’s got this underlying message that I don’t think was appropriate or appreciated by the audience that it was targeted to,” Cumming explains.
“It talks about the way that we are sold things through culture,” he adds. “We’re actually all used to that; that’s not a new thing, but then, 25 years ago, it was not really so common.”
And he is right, warnings about overconsumption and de-influencing have become the norm. But at the time, this was a very unusual conversation to have with other adults, let alone tweens.
(Writer’s note: I saw this movie in theaters as a tween and thought it was an odd take. At the same time, I appreciated the filmmakers/”adults” not talking down to me about how the world worked. Even if it was through a campy and over-the-top movie.)
Over the past 2 decades, the film has “found its audience and people really appreciate it and are obsessed with it.”
“I actually love being in films where people don’t get it initially, and years go by, and it’s sort of the gift that keeps on giving,” Cumming adds. “It could have found its audience sooner, and it could have been a much more commercially successful film if they hadn’t blown it in the marketing department. Sorry to the marketing department, I’m sure you’re all lovely, but you got it wrong.” Noting that it was “very much ahead of its time.”
You can check out all of Cumming’s comments about “Josie and the Pussycats,” including him praising co-star Parker Posey, below:
