10 Movies That Blatantly Troll The Audience
5. Trail Of The Pink Panther
At the time of comedian Peter Sellers' death in 1980, a script for a sixth movie starring him as his hilarious character Inspector Jacques Clouseau was being written. However, the film never went into production. That didn't stop Pink Panther series director Blake Edwards from making Trail Of The Pink Panther, which was released in 1982.
Most of the movie depicts a reporter trying to track down Clouseau's whereabouts after he had been reported missing and features her interviewing Clouseau's family, friends, and rivals. While Sellers' death was obviously common knowledge, the trailer and other promotional materials imply that Trail Of The Pink Panther is a new movie, perhaps one that Sellers might have finished shortly before his death. However, all of the footage of Sellers in Trail Of The Pink Panther consists of six year-old outtakes from 1976's The Pink Panther Strikes Again and clips from the previous movies, some of which were nearly twenty years old.
All other new footage of "Clouseau" was shot with a body double. Instead of a new Pink Panther movie as promised, audiences were given what was essentially a clip show of the Pink Panther series which might've made a fine television special in tribute to Sellers, but not a theatrically released movie.
When "Clouseau" is finally revealed at the end of the film, he is shown from behind as a seagull defecates on him. While Edwards meant it to be a typical slapstick joke, it could also be viewed as a metaphor for how viewers felt after seeing this movie. Because of low grosses, Trail Of The Pink Panther lasted just one month in U.S. theatres before being pulled. Sellers' widow actually successfully won a lawsuit against the studio, claiming the movie tarnished her late husband's reputation.