Just when you thought Spring Breakers was this year’s ridiculously entertaining yet horrifying portrayal of modern adolescent behavior, The Bling Ring has come along to completely change the game. Although the film, which was inspired by this Vanity Fair article about a real life crew of celebrity-obsessed teen thieves living in LA, was released in limited run this past weekend, it was director Sofia Coppola’s best opening since Lost in Translation. Besides featuring an impressive cast that included Emma Watson (as convicted felon/reality star Nicki/Alexis Neiers), Leslie Mann (as Nicki’s space-y mom), Gavin Rossdale (as a shady party promoter/drug lord) and even real-life Bling Ring victim Paris Hilton (as Paris Hilton, duh), I believe it was the flick’s various social media efforts that really sparked the buzz.
As a salute to the director’s fascination with the social media side of the story (the kids used Twitter to find celeb home and were also avid braggers on Facebook), Bling Ring set up accounts on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook and has been keeping each channel active with loads of daily content since April. Favorites include candid-like photos of the cast similar to what the real players published, as well as editorial-like style guides to celeb courthouse looks, complete with phrases like "Plead ‘guilty’ to looking fabulous!" It’s all pretty brilliant and a perfect play on society’s sick fascination with Hollywood.
If you have yet to catch the film, look out for it everywhere when it hits theaters nationwide this coming weekend (June 21st).