Is Julia Fox Getting Into New Jersey Real Estate? Realtors Fall for Fake Billboard
Julia Fox appearing on a billboard isn’t news. But seeing her promise to help you “find your forever home” is.
A sly billboard outside a vape shop at 202 Mott Street in Manhattan — very much the stomping grounds of the downtown actress, model and part-time brat summer muse — boasts Fox as “Cece” from Specter Realty, the #1 realtor in New Jersey, along with a website and phone number.
Of course, this is actually a nifty new ad from Neon and Steven Soderbergh’s haunted house film Presence. (“Specter Realty” is a nice touch.)
The phone number (908-905-CECE) connects to a voicemail and a rep from Neon tells me they’ve received over 1,500 messages. Most are from people in on the joke, playing around “in character” with Cece, somewhat remarkably, since no one calling had seen the movie when The Hollywood Reporter reached out last week.
“Hi Cece, I’m waiting to hear back. I was getting my colonic earlier and I noticed that you had left me a message about that beautiful little borough home in Jersey,” one likely Presence ticket-buyer offered. “I don’t live in New Jersey, but you might make me move there cause what is this mothering you’re doing?” another said.
Some who called dropped the act, and just wanted a chance to talk with Fox and to discuss the Uncut Gems star’s unique position in pop culture. “You know how some people are like, what would Jesus do? Like WWJD? I say, what would Julia do? WWJD,” one devoted stan testified. (Let’s hope Neon faces no backlash here; Fox’s character sells a new home to Lucy Liu and Chris Sullivan’s family in the first scene … then doesn’t turn up again.)
The strangest messages — about 10 percent, according to Neon — were from other realtors who seemed to think that Fox was actually getting into the industry. One well-meaning Los Angeles-based realtor left their name and number, “if you’re really in real estate, Julia,” to offer support and advice. “The market is always good for agents, no matter what time of year,” apparently, which might be good news for Cece once word spreads that her latest sale came with a ghostly presence.
The specialty film’s distributors decided to open nationwide versus a more typical platform run and opened to $3.3 million from 1,750 cinemas over the Jan. 24-26 weekend. Thanks to a reported budget of less than $3 million, that’s not a bad start.
