Home Media Magazine - Agent DVD - July 2008 - (Page DVD21) *COMICFILES DIRECTOR ‘WANTED’ TO SHOW PROCESS ON DVD Timur Bekmambetov first, and then we described it on pages,” he says. “I think it was a way to make the action scenes much more exciting. I cannot imagine how a writer will imagine and write a lot of these crazy scenes on a page, and a studio will read it and say, ‘Oh, it’s good. Let’s shoot it.’ You cannot do this. You can only create a movie.” Bekmambetov created 20 to 30 minutes of film in pre-vis in his Moscow studio to encourage Universal to greenlight the film. Perhaps this also ensured there would be no alternate cut for home video. “I didn’t find any deleted scenes,” he says. “Everything we shot is in the movie.” W BY BILLY GIL BY FRED TOPEL anted, based on the Mark Millar graphic novel, boasts outrageous action scenes in which assassins shoot targets from flipping cars and bend bullets in midair. For the home video version, director Timur Bekmambetov plans to take fans through the process of creating these sequences. “We used pre-visualization, when you’re making CG characters and a CG environment and creating the movie as an animation before the real shooting,” Bekmambetov says. “Usually filmmakers use pre-vis animatics to prep the production process to know how to shoot and where to put the cameras, but we used animatics as a tool to develop the script.” In a reverse process, the shooting script was actually written from the pre-vis scenes. “We created action scenes as animatics GRAPHIC NOVELS ON HOME VIDEO W anted and last year’s smash-hit 300 are just the latest examples of graphic novels entertaining audiences on the big screen and home video: 300 Warner. On DVD (single & twodisc versions) and Blu-ray. 2007. This muscled-up film version of Frank Miller and Lynn Varley’s graphic novel took some liberties with its story of ancient Spartans battling the larger Persian army. Expect a beefed-up Blu-ray in the future to match the extras exclusive to the defunct HD DVD version. Director Zack Snyder next tackles Alan Moore’s Watchmen. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT Sony Pictures. On DVD and Blu-ray. 2007. The three-issue comic series, about vampires attacking an Alaskan town where the sun doesn’t rise for 30 days, was originally intended as a film pitch, according to writer Steve Niles. The Blu-ray version sports a graphic-novel-to-film comparison. SIN CITY Dimension. Available on DVD. 2005. Frank Miller’s 13-part series was so rich with cinematic detail, two film sequels are on the way. The special-edition DVD of the first film is loaded with bonus material, including more than six additional minutes of movie time. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE New Line. Available on DVD. 2005. A never-better Viggo Mortensen plays a family man with an unknown past as an assassin, adapted by David Cronenberg from a graphic novel by John Wagner (Judge Dredd). ROAD TO PERDITION DreamWorks. Available on DVD. 2002. The gangster story’s original graphic novel, by Max Allan Collins and illustrated by Richard Piers Rayner, is bloodier than the movie, and is heavier on themes of redemption. The film stars Tom Hanks, Jude Law and Paul Newman. FROM HELL Fox. On DVD (single & twodisc versions) and Blu-ray. 2001. The film, starring Johnny Depp, significantly alters the story of Alan Moore’s original edition, which explores the motives behind Jack the Ripper. GHOST WORLD MGM. Available on DVD. 2001. Daniel Clowes’ serialized comic made an unforgettable film, starring Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch and thennewcomer Scarlett Johansson. MONKEYBONE Fox. Available on DVD. 2001. This madcap Brendan Fraser vehicle was based on Kaja Blackley’s graphic novel Dark Town. The plot: something about a cartoonist in a coma battling his own creation. The graphic novel looks like a Gothic modern-art nightmare (in a good way). AGENTDVD 20 AGENTDVD JULY 2008 AgentDVD.com http://agentdvd.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.