So here’s the scene: You’ve got the head of DVD distribution, a suit through and through, for a certain little film studio. He’s in his office, feeding the goldfish he lovingly and unoriginally named “Goldie” when Darren Aronofsky, director of The Fountain, is buzzed in. They shake hands, exchange pleasantries. Then Darren gets down to brass tacks. He says, “Listen up, bud. I made a revolutionary, stunningly shot motion picture for only $35 million. Now I know it only made $15 million overall but you’re going to make up the difference on DVD because this has cult favorite written all over it. This is a movie people have to see again and again. Trust me on this. It’s a pretty polarizing picture. It keeps conversation going and that brings word of mouth. Now I’m interested in doing a commentary track. If ever a movie needed a commentary track it’s this one, am I right? So what do you think? Now how’s about you hand me the keys to the recording studio so I can do the dew.”
And the suit says … “No.”
That’s right. Fans of The Fountain were screwed out of a perfectly good (I’m assuming) commentary track because of short-sighted executives. Brad pointed out this blog on Darren Aronofsky’s MySpace page where he talks about it.
Suffice to say, I find this whole thing retarded. The Fountain was my favorite movie of last year. I know I’m in the minority. But I do know some people that were somewhere in the middle on the movie, unsure of what they thought (which is pretty much how I felt after I saw it the first time in theatres) and the existance of a commentary track might have peaked their curiosity enough to pick up the DVD. Then there’s other people that liked it but are not as quick to buy DVDs without a huge amount of special features for fear of the constant double-dips the studios like to sneak-attack us with.
I’m usually in that last camp when it comes to buying DVDs but I love this movie so much I had to purchase it on the first go around. Now there is a six-part behind the scenes featurette on the current DVD release but you have to believe there is a lot more being kept under lock and key … in fact, Aronofsky confirmed as much. And he has issued a call to arms to help get these features on a new special edition disc, possibly through Criterion.
i do hope to do a big special edition at some point. but for that to happen the dvd is gonna have to sell.
i got a lot of extras in my bag so who know maybe if you all write to criterion they’ll get interested (suggest the fountain as a title: [email protected])
Get those fingers typing, guys. Spread the word. Fly, little monkeys. Fly!
Now if you’re aching for a commentary track, you might be in for one sooner than you think because Aronofsky has another little bag of tricks up his sleeve …
niko, my friend who did the doc on the dvd came up with a novel idea.
we recorded a commentary track ourselves.
we’re gonna post it on a site soon, http coming soon.
you can play it and watch the flick and hopefully you’ll enjoy it.
Well, I’ll officially be checking his site every twenty minutes now looking for that download. Until then, make your voices heard!
