Saturday, December 22, 2007

BLADERUNNER The Briefcase of DVDs

That makes two fancy "briefcase" DVD sets in the last month (between this and the MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. collection)... what next, the complete SUPERMAN series packed in a phone booth?

At any rate, this latest 5 DVD BLADERUNNER release offers what one would hope is the final, absolute, definitive director's cut of the film in uber-quality, along with all the previous cuts (including the original release with narration) and, most interestingly to fans, a 3 1/2 hour long documentary on the making of the movie. This exhaustive study has new interviews with director Ridley Scott, writers Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, actors Harrison Ford, Daryl Hannah, Edward James Olmos, Rutger Hauer and many others, and a host of behind-the-scenes folks. This is not a sanitized "everyone loved one another" piece; the on-set and post-production tensions are fully explored, as well as many details of set design and special FX.

There are some great finds, including screen tests (with actor Morgan Paull playing the Harrison Ford character against multiple actresses vying for the role Sean Young eventually landed), cut scenes and outtakes. But mostly it's a textbook look at the stresses and problems involved in doing an epic, expensive, visionary piece of work. If you're looking for a gift for the Replicant in your life, you can't go wrong here!

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