Poltergeist DVD.
Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 11:43 am
Any word on a special edition?
That's stupid. I wonder why that is?AndyDursin wrote:hey John,
Someone asked this a short while ago -- I think the answer is sadly "no." Warner I believe was considering it but put it on the shelf in the last year or so. I'm sure the subject is still a sensitive one with Spielberg and Hooper, and Steven's "hands on" involvement as producer/writer, and who did what and where.
In regards to that, there's a terrific featurette on the POLTERGEIST Laserdisc that Frank Marshall made -- it's sadly only about 10 minutes, but it shows Spielberg on-set, basically directing everything, while Hooper is silently off to the side, almost like a set manager or something. It could have been that they played up Spielberg's involvement to captialize on his success at the time, but it's such a "Spielberg film" that I doubt it...and for those reasons I doubt we'll see a Special Edition addressing those subjects, possibly not while all the participants are still alive at least.
Andy,AndyDursin wrote:hey John,
Someone asked this a short while ago -- I think the answer is sadly "no." Warner I believe was considering it but put it on the shelf in the last year or so. I'm sure the subject is still a sensitive one with Spielberg and Hooper, and Steven's "hands on" involvement as producer/writer, and who did what and where.
In regards to that, there's a terrific featurette on the POLTERGEIST Laserdisc that Frank Marshall made -- it's sadly only about 10 minutes, but it shows Spielberg on-set, basically directing everything, while Hooper is silently off to the side, almost like a set manager or something. It could have been that they played up Spielberg's involvement to captialize on his success at the time, but it's such a "Spielberg film" that I doubt it...and for those reasons I doubt we'll see a Special Edition addressing those subjects, possibly not while all the participants are still alive at least.
The MGM/Warner DVD isn't bad -- it's an older 16:9 transfer with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, and can now be found in the $5.50 bin (plus at Amazon as well for just about the same price).
It really should happen, for a seminal horror film like this.John Johnson wrote:Andy,AndyDursin wrote:hey John,
Someone asked this a short while ago -- I think the answer is sadly "no." Warner I believe was considering it but put it on the shelf in the last year or so. I'm sure the subject is still a sensitive one with Spielberg and Hooper, and Steven's "hands on" involvement as producer/writer, and who did what and where.
In regards to that, there's a terrific featurette on the POLTERGEIST Laserdisc that Frank Marshall made -- it's sadly only about 10 minutes, but it shows Spielberg on-set, basically directing everything, while Hooper is silently off to the side, almost like a set manager or something. It could have been that they played up Spielberg's involvement to captialize on his success at the time, but it's such a "Spielberg film" that I doubt it...and for those reasons I doubt we'll see a Special Edition addressing those subjects, possibly not while all the participants are still alive at least.
The MGM/Warner DVD isn't bad -- it's an older 16:9 transfer with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, and can now be found in the $5.50 bin (plus at Amazon as well for just about the same price).
Thanks for that. I was thinking of buying the movie, but then thought 'hey, the 25th anniversary is not too far away, maybe I'll wait.' It's a shame as it would make a great 2 disc set. Still, if it ever does happen, maybe they could get the guys from Ghost Hunters to do the audio commentary. LOL.
Because of the perception (and possible reality) that Spielberg directed a good amount of the movie himself...it was so overwhelming at the time that he took out a full-page ad in Variety (at the time of the movie's release) THANKING Hooper for their "collaboration" and dismissing the stories that Spielberg was the actual "director" in most senses of the word.Q-BanditZ wrote:That's stupid. I wonder why that is?AndyDursin wrote:hey John,
Someone asked this a short while ago -- I think the answer is sadly "no." Warner I believe was considering it but put it on the shelf in the last year or so. I'm sure the subject is still a sensitive one with Spielberg and Hooper, and Steven's "hands on" involvement as producer/writer, and who did what and where.
In regards to that, there's a terrific featurette on the POLTERGEIST Laserdisc that Frank Marshall made -- it's sadly only about 10 minutes, but it shows Spielberg on-set, basically directing everything, while Hooper is silently off to the side, almost like a set manager or something. It could have been that they played up Spielberg's involvement to captialize on his success at the time, but it's such a "Spielberg film" that I doubt it...and for those reasons I doubt we'll see a Special Edition addressing those subjects, possibly not while all the participants are still alive at least.
They are also planning an SE of LA CONFIDENTIAL for release early next year, its 10th anniversary (has it been that long?)[Warner] Yes, POLTERGEIST is still set for its Silver Birthday (gosh, are we all that old?) next year. 2 disc SE with lots of goodies.
While Marquand was pretty much a hack for hire, one of the reasons Lucas has distanced himself from Empire and has even spoke of it as the worst of the SW films is because all too often Kershner wouldn't kowtow but let the actors improvise and even tinkered with the script. I think Lucas was expecting Kershner to be a lot more compliant, which is why he's so uncomfortable with the film's reputation.Paul MacLean wrote:I think if Tobe Hooper was the director of Poltergeist, I suspect his role was akin to that of Irvin Kershner on Empire Strikes Back, or Richard Marquand on Return of the Jedi -- in essence following the lead of a very hands-on writer/producer and executing that producer's vision.
Actually, I think that's why I like EMPIRE more than any of the other films in the series- Kershner's direction brought out more of the actual characters and it flowed better; Lucas has proven that to him characters are clearly secondary (at the most) unless they're digitized or some kind of human-monster hybrid. EMPIRE blows away any and all of the crap he released in Episodes I-III. To me, it's not even a contest. I think his vision may be interesting but his translation of that vision to the screen (in human character development and story) is weak at best. I honestly can't stand listening to him talk about anything, especially STAR WARS stuff. He's way too full of himself-Carlson2005 wrote:While Marquand was pretty much a hack for hire, one of the reasons Lucas has distanced himself from Empire and has even spoke of it as the worst of the SW films is because all too often Kershner wouldn't kowtow but let the actors improvise and even tinkered with the script. I think Lucas was expecting Kershner to be a lot more compliant, which is why he's so uncomfortable with the film's reputation.Paul MacLean wrote:I think if Tobe Hooper was the director of Poltergeist, I suspect his role was akin to that of Irvin Kershner on Empire Strikes Back, or Richard Marquand on Return of the Jedi -- in essence following the lead of a very hands-on writer/producer and executing that producer's vision.
I don't remember the exact quote (or who it was attributed to) about Spielberg and POLTERGEIST, but didn't someone's agent go to the set one day and say something like "Oh, so THAT's what a producer does! He places the camera, talks to the crew, instructs the actors, goes over the script and then lets the director yell 'action!'"mkaroly wrote:It wasn't as scary or edgy as it could have been had Hooper had complete control of it....