Posted by Vincent at ac9c75d5.ipt.aol.com on May 13, 2001 at 12:43:03:
In Reply to: Q for Vincent....You getting the new Kubrick Colle posted by Bruce The Shark on May 13, 2001 at 06:28:35:
: Oops...
: Are you getting/have(Forgot the release date!) the NEW Kubrick collection, what do you think of the improvements..and lastly..if you are bored..if they handed all of his films over to YOU to do a box set, with full control, would you change anything, do anything more, etc?
: Thanks!
Luckily, I didn't buy the crappy old one (expect for THE SHINING for the documentary mainly), and am looking forward to these new transfers. If they look as good as EYES WIDE SHUT, we're all in for a treat.
As for what I'd do differently, well, here goes-
I'd go through all the outtakes of THE SHINING behind-the-scenes footage and see if it's viable to make a LONGER version of "Making THE SHINING" (Vivian reportedly shot about 60-hours of footage on set).
I'd offer both full-frame (which Kubrick apparently prefered for his latter films) as well as at least 1.66:1 matted versions of the later three films.
I'd have any discs in the collection that are 1.66:1 or wider be 16:9 enhanced.
I'd include some of the legendary deleted scenes as supplements, like the 20-minutes that Kubrick cut from 2001 after it's premiere, and the excised coda to THE SHINING that only played in NYC and LA for the first week of release before Kubrick ordered it physically spliced out of those prints, and then of course there's the "pie fight" that originally ended DR. STRANGELOVE, or the ending of FULL METAL JACKET where Animal Mother decapitates the dead female sniper, etc.
Vivian Kubrick reportedly shot behind-the-scenes footage on FULL METAL JACKET but never did anything with it. I'd want to take a look at this material and see if some sort of documentary could be cut from it.
On EYES WIDE SHUT, I'd have the choice for either the R-rated or uncensored versions via seamless branching. I'd also include the videotaped acceptance speech Kubrick sent to the DGA when they gave him the D.W. Griffith award in 1998, the ShowWest teaser trailer for EYES WIDE SHUT that consists of a much longer take of the "mirror" scene, all the TV spots, and a collection of all the behind-the-scenes photos so we could see Kubrick at work on his final film.
Maybe this is "disrespectful" to Kubrick because he didn't want deleted scenes shown, etc., but hey, I'm a fan. I just want to see this stuff!
Vincent