Tuesday, June 05, 2007

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!



18 comments:

Vance said...

Sign Me Up for the 7 more hours! I also can't believe Disney thinks Ratatouille will be hard to market because of the "rat"? Dont they know they just have to plaster Pixar all over and that's enough? I can't wait.

Sadly, I saw Talk To Me and while it's not a bad movie, there were some flaws.

Reel Fanatic said...

I'm sorry to hear that about Talk to Me, Vance, but I love the city of D.C., and both Chiwetel Ejiofor and Don Cheadle, so much that I'm sure I'll enjoy it despite its flaws

jeremy said...

Ok, in a Buffy type vein--over two years ago I read that Marti Noxon was working w/ Sam Raimi on something tentatively titled 'The Curse'. [artcile]
Now I can't find anything anywhere--think it was scrapped?

Reel Fanatic said...

I hadn't heard anything about that before Jeremy, but I'd imagine it would have to be dead by now with Marti in charge of the new "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff ... Maybe if that fails (which I wouldn't think would be likely) and Raimi doesn't manage to land "The Hobbit," it would be a possibility, and an intriguing one at that

Sachin said...

I have not see Knocked Up yet but I wonder if there is any truth to this news:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070605.wxknocked05/BNStory/Entertainment/home

Usually I dismiss most of these claims but I am sure it won't be that hard to get a hold of this woman's book and do some basic comparisons.

Sachin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sachin said...

Didn't mean to post multiple comments but the above link didn't show up. If you search for "Eckler suing Universal Studios", the following story shows up:

Globe and Mail columnist and author Rebecca Eckler is suing Universal Studios and the producer of Knocked Up, claiming too many similarities between the new hit comedy and her 2004 memoir Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-Be.

Reel Fanatic said...

I hadn't heard anything about that, Sachin, but it certainly is interesting ... In one of the "making of" clips I came across for "Knocked Up," Apatow is joking about how he came up with the premise with Rogen as ... "Why don't we just make a movie about you getting a woman pregnant ... that would be funny" ... I'd obviously be upset to learn that he had cribbed any of the very funny story, so thanks for the heads up on something I'll definitely have to keep an eye on

Chris said...

Speaking of Apatow, you might find this interesting. I was listening to XM's channel Cinemagic where they were playing music from Knocked Up. Towards the end of the hour, they asked him about Superbad (he said it was an extremely filthy, funny movie written by Seth Rogen...he started writing it at 15)...but then this nugget:

He said Jake Kasdan called him up one day and he said, "Someone needs to make fun of these movies like Ray and Walk the Line." They had a viewing party and came to the conclusion that they were all pretty much the same movie. So they collaborated on a script that Kasdan would direct called Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

John C. Reilly is going to play Dewey Cox, and he's apparently on every drug, including PCP at one point. But my favorite description that Apatow gives is that Cox cuts his brother in half with a machete and thinks "maybe he's responsible." Apparently the tagline is something like, "Life is a hard walk, so you gotta walk hard." I cannot freaking wait. Comedy should finally make Oscar notice this year.

Reel Fanatic said...

I've heard rumblings about that John C. Reilly flick, Chris, and it does indeed sound great ... The biopic genre is certainly ripe for a good sendup, and Reilly just has great comic timing

Graham said...

Thanks for the heads up on the Buffy Season 8 stuff - had no idea that was out there.

Reel Fanatic said...

It's well worth checking out Graham, even if, like me, you're way too old to fit in in a comic book store

Divinity said...

Picked up Buffy Season 8: Episode 4 today. Yay! Even more interesting was the editor's hints about the next couple of episodes (next one's out in August) where the story shifts away from the Scoobies. Oh, and check out the anti-Spike rant in the letters... I think I need to go back and watch the last 3 seasons again. I must've missed something.

Reel Fanatic said...

The comics always seem to come out on the worst possible work day for me, Divinity, so I haven't managed to pick it up yet ... Hopefully I can make it today (and it doesn't just sell out in one day, which past volumes have!)

Vance said...

Oh yeah. Don't get me wrong, Chiwetel and Don Cheadle are FANTASTIC in TTM (as is Taranji P Henson and the rest of the cast, Even Cedric the Entertainer), but I think I almost wanted more about his political and activist doings in DC and I didn't really get a sense that it was grounded in that city since it felt like it could have taken place anywhere (though I guess that might have been the point, to broaden the points). Again, it wasn't a bad movie, just not the A I was hoping it would be. Still, I'll be interested to hear what you think.

Reel Fanatic said...

I had no idea that Ms. Henson is in Talk to Me .. She's quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses, after her great work in Hustle & Flow and being just about the only thing I enjoyed about Smokin Aces

Divinity said...

I've asked that they keep a standing order for me at the Comicshop. They put it aside for me and then call me to come buy it. I think they factor that into their stock ordering.

Reel Fanatic said...

You're much smarter at buying comics than I am, Divinity ... My comic shop has a subscription option, which would give me a reserved copy if I just pay for the complete run, but I haven't done that yet .. I did, however, get my hands on No. 4 today, and can't wait to read it tomorrow