Home Media Magazine - December 2-8, 2007 - (Page 28) PIPELINE www.homemediamagazine.com Thou Shalt Laugh David Wain of ‘Stella’ Talks About Ten Commandments-themed ‘The Ten’ By Billy Gil COMEDY Fans of David Wain and his band of absurdist comedian friends will have a new item to add to their collection when City Lights Home Entertainment releases on DVD The Ten Jan. 15, 2008, (prebook Dec. 18) at $26.98. The Ten tells 10 overlapping stories based on each of the Ten Commandments. If it were a Robert Altman film, we might get 10 interlocking stories that reveal shocking secrets about complex characters, exuding satirical social commentary. With Wain at the helm, we get Jesus on a Segway, neighbors fighting over who has the most CAT-scan machines and Winona Ryder falling in love with a puppet. “I have no pretensions that this movie will change the world; my only expectation is that it will change Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight A Fancy for Fantasy Paramount brings ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ inspired novel to DVD By Billy Gil FANTASY Audiences are spellbound by fantasy films. While Enchanted and Beowulf are ruling the box office, a slew of fantasy-themed DVDs are marching to DVD. Fantasy fans have long been clamoring for a film version of “Dragonlance,” the book series spawned by authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. They’ll get their wish when Paramount Home Entertain- I More Upcoming Fantasy: I Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner; Dec. 11): DVD $28.98, two-DVD special edition $34.99, Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD/DVD combo $35.99, and boxed sets of all five “Harry Potter” films (DVD $119.97, Blu-ray or HD DVD $149.99) I Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ( Warner; Dec. 11): Blu-ray or HD DVD $29.99 each I Blade Runner (Warner; Dec. 18): fivedisc Ultimate Collector’s Edition $78.92 DVD, $99.98 Blu-ray or HD DVD; fourDVD Collector’s Edition $34.99; five-disc Complete Collector’s Edition Blu-ray or HD DVD $39.99; two-DVD Final Cut $20.97) I Stardust (Paramount; Dec. 18): DVD $29.99, HD DVD $39.99 I Pan’s Labyrinth (New Line; Dec. 26 ): Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD $35.99 I Dragon Wars (Sony Pictures; Jan. 8, 2008): DVD $28.95, Blu-ray $38.95, UMD $24.94 I Beauty and the Beast: The Third Season (Paramount; Feb. 5, 2008): threeDVD set $50.99 I Turok, Son of Stone (Genius/Weinstein; Feb. 5, 2008; prebook Dec. 26); DVD $19.95 ment releases the direct-to-video animated film Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight Jan. 15, 2008, (prebook Dec. 4) at $19.99. Dragons of Autumn Twilight follows a party of adventurers who regroup after having split from one another five years before. Led by a half-elven warrior (voiced by Michael Rosenbaum of “Smallville”), the group encounters a barbarian princess (voiced by Lucy Lawless of “Xena”) and helps protect her against dark forces who seek her mysterious healing staff. The film is rated ‘PG-13’ for fantasy action violence. Weis and Hickman started the franchise, based on the “Dungeons & Dragons” pen-and-paper game system, in 1984, with the best-selling novel Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first in the three-part “Dragonlance Chronicles” series. The duo said they wanted to see a filmed version of their novel since writing it more than 20 years ago. “Our editor, when it first came out in 1984, took us out for a party lunch,” Hickman said. “She had written a joke letter that said, ‘congratulations, your book has been optioned to be produced by Paramount Pictures.’” Paramount is fulfilling that prophecy with a DVD laden with bonus material, including featurettes on the voice acting and music. Weis and Hickman not only had a hand in nearly every aspect of the film’s production, they helped produce the bonus material as well. “Working with George (Stray- ton, who adapted the screenplay) and Will (Meugniot, director) and (composer) Karl Preusser has just been a gift,” Weis said. “Certainly, hearing horror stories with authors that have no say with the adaptation, the fact that we were included every step of the way, even getting to participate in recording sessions for the music, it’s just been wonderful.” “The very fact that they showed us an early version of the script, took notes from us and made changes, is amazing to us both,” Hickman added. “That level of participation between novelists and filmmakers is unprecedented.” Weis and Hickman were given such a say in the film that at one point the authors protested a scene being cut in which the sorcerer Raistlin (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland of “24”) takes pity on a dwarf creature, showing the inherent goodness in a dark character. The scene went back in. The authors said they couldn’t be happier with the film thus far, that they’d like to see more films from the series (there are now more than 190 “Dragonlance” books) and are open to the possibility of live-action adaptations. “I think the perception for a long time has been that DTVs are somehow children of a lesser god,” Hickman said. “The fact of the matter is, going DTV with this particular film almost ensures we can go back and do the second and the third books.” In the meantime, fans can see previews of the DVD on YouTube as well as dragonlance-movie.com. at the South By Southwest festival, the first episode of Wain’s Web series “Wainy Days” (available free at mydamnchannel.com), a makingof featurette, and DVD-ROM links to ringtones and wallpaper. Plus, there’s an interesting commentary track. “The commentary is Paul Rudd, Ken Marino (who also stars in and co-wrote the film) and myself, along with my parents to give kind of an opposing viewpoint; they liked the film, but not all of it,” Wain said. The DVD also has a long version of the vignette featuring KenneySilver as a mom who hires an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator (Platt) to be a father figure to her children. Additionally, Wain has good news for fans of “The State,” the 1990s sketch-comedy series that featured David Wain (left) and Ken Marino the way everyone on this planet thinks and behaves,” Wain says in the DVD press release. But are religious folk as keen to his irreverence as he is? “I think anyone who’s actually seen the film will see that it’s not trying to make any point or take down religion or anything,” Wain explained. “It’s really just these 10 stories that are pretty silly, and using the Ten Commandments as a jumping off point or backbone.” With 10 stories to tell and a mammoth cast (Jessica Alba, Adam Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Rob Corddry, Famke Janssen, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Gretchen Mol, Oliver Platt, Paul Rudd, Liev Schreiber, Justin Theroux and the aforementioned Ryder), there’s plenty of room for the film to stretch on DVD. Special features include alternate takes, deleted scenes, an interview Wain, Marino, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and about half of the cast of “Reno 911!” Work on the complete-series set is finished, and it will include unaired sketches, promotional material, behind-thescenes footage and commentary on every episode. A release date has not yet been set. “It’s the most amazing DVD set you can imagine,” Wain said. In other things Wain, “Stella” — his comedy troupe with Ian Black and Showalter that featured for one season in 2005 on a Comedy Central show of the same name (on DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment) — is on hold while the performers work on other projects. Black directed the film Wedding Daze, streeting on DVD from MGM and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Jan. 15, 2008, (prebook Dec. 19) at $26.98. 28 Home Media Magazine December 2–8, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://dragonlance-movie.com
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