COVER STORY : Stirring Up a Publicity Frenzy : Tiny Miramax is relying on its media ingenuity to sell ‘Truth or Dare’

In an era in which it often costs movie studios more to market a film than to make it, Miramax Films has learned that the best publicity is free publicity.

When “Entertainment Tonight” revealed last month that Miramax’s “Truth or Dare” trailer had been rated R by the MPAA--making it impossible to show the trailer with any mainstream PG films--Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein started to celebrate.

“We were thrilled,” he says. “The more publicity, the better. The minute ‘ET’ ran that story we sent out 50 cassettes everywhere! The whole issue was ridiculous. The same trailer that we couldn’t show in the theaters, ‘ET’ showed on TV, in everyone’s homes, at 7 p.m.”

With a movie like “Truth or Dare,” which features Madonna baring her breasts, lolling in bed with her gay dancers and making fun of then-paramour Warren Beatty, it’s easy to stir up a publicity frenzy. But as a tiny, independent film company without the marketing muscle of the major movie studios, Miramax is relying on its media ingenuity to sell “Truth or Dare,” which debuts Friday here and in New York before opening in 350 theaters nationwide May 17.

“The real challenge is to work the press and build publicity in an orderly fashion,” says Weinstein, who shrewdly earned a ton of publicity from previous ratings battles with the MPAA. “The problem with ‘Truth or Dare’ is that we’ve had one roadblock after another.”

The biggest hurdle was a late-February USA Today story that described graphic footage contained in the film, based on viewings of a bootleg rough-cut of the film. “That drove us crazy,” says Weinstein, “because it was the first piece about the film and it made it appear that the entire film was pornographic.”

Worried about a wave of negative word-of-mouth, Miramax got “Truth or Dare” director Alek Keshishian to hurriedly assemble a video work-print of the film, which Miramax began showing to key writers and reviewers. “We wanted to cool things down,” says Weinstein. “We wanted people to see this wasn’t a porno film.”

To create an even more positive buzz, Miramax has been running the film’s R-rated trailer with various art-house films, including 150 prints of Miramax’s “The Grifters.” “We’ve been showing it with ‘A Kiss Before Dying,’ with ‘The Nasty Girl,’ with anything that’s R-rated,” says Weinstein. “The way I look at it, the audience that liked ‘sex, lies, & videotape’ would love this movie.”

Miramax is also making nationwide TV ad buys for the film, geared to its national opening. Since the film is R-rated, Miramax can only advertise the movie after 10 p.m., so the company is concentrating on late-night TV shows like “Saturday Night Live,” “Late Night With David Letterman” and “The Arsenio Hall Show.”

Madonna is doing her part to plug the film. She’s already participated in several group interviews during a recent Miramax press junket and has scheduled appearances on “Good Morning America” and “The Regis and Kathie Lee Show.” She also did an interview with MTV’s Kurt Loder, which will air May 9 as a kickoff for the video channel’s two-day “Madonnarama” event.

Liz Rosenberg, Madonna’s press rep, says Madonna will also attend the Cannes Film Festival--the film plays there May 13--and give interviews to the foreign press.

“Truth or Dare’s” May 17 national opening gives it a one-week jump on the Memorial Day weekend deluge. But the film still has to open opposite such competition as Touchstone Pictures’ Bill Murray film, “What About Bob,” as well as Andrew Dice Clay’s concert movie, “Dice Rules,” and Brian Bozworth’s action picture, “Stone Cold.”

“Dice and Bozworth both skew very male--I don’t think they’re real competition for us,” says Weinstein. “It’s true that Bill Murray has a big audience, of men and women, but I think people will go see both him and Madonna.”

Weinstein insists “Truth or Dare” doesn’t need a huge opening weekend to make a profit. “Our economics are completely different from a major studio. If we gross $5 million, the film will be a smash. That Hollywood blockbuster mentality is total (expletive). We don’t spend the big money on advertising. We find other ways to get people to see our movies.”