5 Examples Of Movie Marketing That Shamelessly Embellished What "Starring" Means
3. Jack Nicholson's Brief Cameo In The Little Shop Of Horrors Has Been Used To Sell The Movie For Decades
Most people are familiar with the 1986 musical movie Little Shop of Horrors starring Rick Moranis about a fly trap plant that feasts on human blood and looks like it came out of Big Bird's Muppet nightmares. However, that movie (and the off-Broadway version it was based on) are actually based on a lesser-known 1960 non-musical comedy directed by schlock master Roger Corman.
For those who don't know, Corman has had a sixty year career in the movies producing mostly low-budget creature features that served as some of the earliest work for future huge names in acting and directing. The Little Shop of Horrors is a perfect example of this, because if you have ever seen the boxes of any of the numerous VHS or DVD editions, you'd think that acting icon Jack Nicholson is one of the stars of the film. Curiously, you would not think that after one glance at the original poster for the film because Nicholson's name isn't listed.
That's because Nicholson's sole appearance in the film amounts to an extremely awkward three and a half minute scene in which he portrays a masochistic dental patient. Nicholson adopts a strange accent you'd associate with Jim Carrey when he's really trying too hard (like in a ski resort infomercial, perhaps). Likewise, this is Jack trying way too hard to be the funny cad we all know him to be. It's hard to see anything resembling the man who would go on to win three Oscars in this movie not only because of this awkward scene, but also because he appears in less than five percent of the film. There literally isn't much of him to see.
The Little Shop of Horrors was only the fourth film that Nicholson appeared in, and it would be another ten years until Nicholson began to become the huge star he'd be by the mid-1970s. However, even by then Nicholson was by far the most recognizable actor in the then fifteen year old film, so ever since Nicholson's name has been prominently featured on any promotional artwork for the film despite the fact that his appearance is over in about as much time as it takes to make microwavable popcorn. Some releases have gone as far as putting Nicholson front and center on the poster using a more recent, more recognizable likeness of Nicholson, including one DVD version that just ridiculously slapped on the famous "Here's Johnny!" still from The Shining.
What makes it even more unfortunate for Nicholson is that The Little Shop of Horrors was produced at rapid speed over two days by Corman in order to finish the film before a new rule went into effect that would require producers to pay residuals to actors for future releases of films starring them. On top of that, Corman let the film fall into the public domain because he neglected to copyright it, meaning just about any company can release the film on home media, which is why the movie has been released on DVD by dozens of companies. That means despite being used as the main name to promote the film for several decades, Nicholson has probably never made a dime more off The Little Shop of Horrors than the few bucks he was paid for the original shoot.