Cool Stuff: Unused ‘Hanna’ Concept Posters
As much fun as it is to take a gander at the new movie posters being released every week, it’s often the case that a film’sbestmarketingmaterialnever makes it past the design stage, as studios tend to opt for simpler, more star-oriented imagery that’s more likely to generate interest in mass audiences. Case in point: These poster concepts forHanna, which put to the shame theactualpostersused to advertise the film. (Do we really need to see the sniper scope motif make its way into every ‘chase thriller’ movie poster?)
The man responsible for the designs areJock, a comic book artist who regularly contributes concept paintings and key art to film productions and promo campaigns, includingBatman Begins,Hancock,Children of Men, and the forthcoming adaptations ofDune,Battleship, andDredd. You might remember seeing some of hisconcept artforDredd(based on the Judge Dredd comics, for which he is an artist), or hisComic Con teaser posterforThe Losersthat ended up serving as the basis forthe official poster. (He was the main illustrator for The Losers comic book series.)
You can check out a lot of that work over at4twenty(viaBleeding Cool), where Jock has also posted hisHannaposters.
Every single one of these unused one-sheets are gorgeous. While I fully understand why the studio chose to go in a different direction, these serve as a much better visual representation (tonally, stylistically, thematically) of what type of filmHannareally is — less a Bourne-style actioner than a warped fairy tale. I especially love the distorted image of Hanna leaping across the shipping containers. So very cool.
Thankfully, not all of Jock’s hard work went to waste. His title text for the film came in handy, with directorJoe Wrightusing it to assault audiences at both the beginning and end of the film. It’s one of the many wonderfully bizarre touches that the movie has to offer.
