_Pollux writes_:
I saw _Cold Souls_ on Pay-Per-View tonight. It stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Giamatti, a man who literally unburdens his soul in a Soul Storage company run by Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn). How does Giamatti hear of the Soul Storage company? A friend calls him and tells him to the read the latest issue of _The New Yorker_.
Unable to sleep, Giamatti trudges into his living room and picks up the “latest issue” of _The New Yorker_. The issue that Giamatti picks up features Barry Blitt’s actual “cover”:http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/toc/2007/05/28/toc_20070521 for the May 28, 2007 issue, called “Half-Staff.”
But the article inside is entirely fictional. Nevertheless, in terms of layout, type, and tone, it is entirely convincing as a _New Yorker_ article. It is written by a (fictional) writer named Sarah Shruber. The article features the same headline and subtitle format, with the name of the article, “Soul Storage,” underneath the headline of “Unburdening made easy.” Its subtitle is: “Are New Yorkers tired of carrying their souls?”
The movie itself was “reviewed”:http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/07/20/090720ta_talk_friend in the _New Yorker_ by Tad Friend, and a “piece”:http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/08/10/090810crci_cinema_lane#ixzz0fUYg4rvK was also written on the film by Anthony Lane. “Paul learns about soul storage from an article in this magazine,” Lane writes, “and I seriously considered checking the archives.”
No matter what your opinion of the film is, if you see it, you’ll have to admit that they created a convincing facsimile of a _New Yorker_ article, and used, thankfully, the Irvin type.