Seven more hours of "Knocked Up"? Yes, please

After yesterday's rather harsh post, I make this solemn promise: Though there will be more about Joss Whedon, after this introductory sentence, you won't again see the words "torture porn."

Besides, there's so much more fun out there to talk about and look at. First up, on my daily visit to iwatchstuff.com came this teaser: Judd Apatow plans to release seven hours of extras for the DVD of "Knocked Up." I can only say huzzah to that, but I couldn't manage to find the original source for this nugget, a profile in Rolling Stone magazine, to which I don't bother to subscribe.

What I was able to find, however, was this Apatow quote from a little while ago at collider.com. Like everyone, I've become more and more skeptical about all these "special edition" DVDs, but it sounds like the eventual two-disc set of "Knocked Up" will be a real keeper. Read on:

Judd Apatow: The DVD there’s going to be a one and a two-disc version released at the same time sometime in the winter and we just have so many extras that it’s ridiculous. They’ve literally handed me DVD’s with 6 hours of footage that I have to go through. One thing we did that I think is really funny is we shot a fake documentary during the making of the movie and the documentary is about how Seth Rogan was the tenth choice to play the lead. So during our shoot we would have actors come and perform a scene and then I would fire them. And so we had James Franco do it, Justin Long, David Krumholtz, Allen Covert. I did it. There was a moment where I think I should be the lead as an actor/director. Orlando Bloom did it. ... And then we also did a very funny fake documentary about how I was having fights with the studio so they sent in Bennett Miller, the director of “Capote,” to oversee the shoot. And so Bennett came to the set and we would shoot all this footage of him changing my angles and my coverage and debating me and it’s very funny. I keep talking about how I don’t like moving the camera because it’s bad for the comedy and he says, “Do you think it’s funnier ‘cause it looks like shit?” [Laughs] And it ultimately comes to blows between me and Bennett Miller. .... There’s a very funny documentary about the roller coaster sequence because Jay Baruchel didn’t want to do it because he says he gets panic attacks on roller coasters. The documentary is about me manipulating him into doing it and you see me basically lying to him saying, “It’s not that bad” and then him having a panic attack on the roller coaster. And then he won’t do it again and we have to keep doing it all day and then you see – because most people want to see this – most of our actors vomiting over and over. In addition to deleted scenes, there’s a ton of deleted scenes and raw footage, I like to put just the raw takes on the DVD because I think its fun to see our process.

Wow. I would have taken just a bunch of deleted scenes starring Seth Rogen and his stoner buds, but this will clearly be more than that. To which I can only say bring it all on.


Tons of Ratatouille images at Filmick

The fine folks at Filmick, who clearly have a lot of time to give to their fantastic blog, have pretty much posted the entire media kit of photos for Ratatouille, and as expected, they look fantastic.

After "Knocked Up," I'd have to count this Brad Bird Pixar flick as the summer movie I'm now most looking forward to, along with Kasi Lemmons' "Talk to Me," so click here to enjoy all the pics.

Buffy Season 8, #4

Though it's not all about Joss Whedon here, I do like the man, so he does come up quite a bit. And the "season 8" Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics he's been writing, illustrated by Georges Jeanty, have been sublime so far.

No. 4 hits the stores tomorrow, and as you can see, giant Dawn is on the cover with Buffy really in the palm of her hands (the second pic is an alternative cover which, frankly, kind of sucks.) Here's how Dark Horse describes the issue:

"Buffy's back in action, thanks to a kiss of true love, but Willow's another story entirely-their capture of Amy the witch opened up a magical trap door, and now the Wiccan is in the belly of the beast. To make matters worse, she's at the mercy of someone truly bent on revenge, and he's been waiting for this for a long time. The conclusion to Season Eight's first arc."

And here, since I'm all for giving people ways to waste time at work, are those two promised covers. Click to enlarge, and enjoy!