Great Moments In Movie Marketing: Actual Snakes On An Actual Plane
In a bold and potentially reckless attempt to expand the early buzz surrounding Snakes on Plane from the internet into the real world, New Line is releasing actual snakes onto actual planes in transit between crucial test markets:
Monty Coles was 3,000 feet in the air when he discovered a stowaway peeking out at him from the plane's instrument panel — a 4 1/2-foot black snake. [...]
While maintaining control of the single-engine plane with one hand, Coles grabbed the reptile behind its head with his other.
"There was no way I was letting that thing go. It coiled all around my arm, and its tail grabbed hold of a lever on the floor and started pulling," Coles said.
The next step was to radio for emergency landing clearance.
"They came back and asked what my problem was. I told them I had one hand full of snake and the other hand full of plane. They cleared me in."
While risky, New Line's thoroughness in the execution of the publicity stunt shows an admirable commitment to their viral campaign. A lesser studio might have been content to merely let loose a four-foot snake on the aircraft, but New Line went the extra mile by providing the pilot with actual dialogue from the movie for his post-reptile encounter with the press; audiences will go crazy with giddy recognition when a python-strangling Samuel L. Jackson screams, "I have one hand full of motherfucking snake and the other hand full of motherfucking plane!" at a critical juncture in the film.
