Tema: Scanners (David Cronenberg, 1981)

Iniciado por Roy Batty

Y según afirman los responsables en la publicación de Facebook, será region free.

Comentan que también van a editar las secuelas, aunque personalmente no tengo ningún interés.

Les he preguntado si van a usar el mismo master que los de Subkultur en Alemania o uno nuevo, a ver si contestan; por las capturas, yo me daría con un canto en los dientes si fuera el mismo (aunque no es lo mismo ver capturas que ver la peli en movimiento).

Me contesto a mí mismo, porque acabo de ver que respondieron en su Facebook para decir que no es el mismo transfer que la edición alemana, pero que creían que sí que era el mismo de la edición australiana...

Lo cual no me aclara gran cosa, porque no estoy muy seguro de si se refieren a la atrocidad alemana de Koch Media o a la posterior y notable edición de Subkultur.

En cualquier caso, por las capturas que he podido ver por la red, la australiana es casi idéntica en colorimetría y grano a la de Subkultur, y, aunque prefiero la segunda, me conformo con cualquiera de las dos. Además, los extras de la edición de Second Sight —producidos por el equipo de Severin Films—parecen bastante interesantes:

My Art Keeps Me Sane – interview with star Stephen Lack (23:46)
I wasn't alone in my critical view of Stephen Lack's central performance (it's widely commented on in the other interviews here), so it was something of a thrill to discover that the man behind that sometimes expressionless mask is lively, animated and a good deal of fun. What I wasn't aware of at the time of the film's release (in pre-internet days we were almost solely reliant on film magazines for our trivia, and few were digging deep into the background of a genre film like Scanners) is that Lack drifted into film acting almost by chance and was actually a painter, a vocation he has since returned to (his rationale for doing so makes perfect sense) and appears completely happy with. Lack proves a most entertaining raconteur, recalling how he came to be cast in the film, his first fractious meeting with makeup wizard Dick Smith, his fondness for Patrick McGoohan, and the not always helpful direction he received on Cronenberg, who apparently limited his performance advice to "You're doing fine." The are also some priceless off-the-cuff comments: "He had written the script," he says of Cronenberg at one point, "and his wife was having a baby, or whatever they were having," and after Dick Smith had done a facial cast of him with his eyes open, he recalls that his eyes were "tired like a hooker in the back of a Chevy after doing a whole football team." Great stuff.
The Eye of Scanners – interview with cinematographer Mark Irwin (15:11)
Cronenberg's regular cinematographer until a scheduling conflict left him unable to shoot Dead Ringers, Irwin has some interesting memories of filming Scanners, particularly the problems he had with leading lady Jennifer O'Neill, her husband and their large Alsatian, and suggests that while Stephen Lack was good playing himself in his previous film, The Rubber Gun, playing other characters was just not his forte. If you only had this interview to work from you'd think that Scanners was Irwin's first film for Cronenberg after a spell shooting hardcore porn and the softcore cult fantasy Tanya's Island(which was directed by Alfred Sole, who also gave us the brilliant low budget Hitchcockian thrillerCommunion / Alice Sweet Alice), whereas he'd also shot Fast Company and The Brood for Cronenberg by this point.
The Chaos of Scanners – interview with executive producer Pierre David (13:42)
The film's executive producer Pierre David, who really does come across as a man who would sell ya a movie, outlines just why the production kicked off with the script not yet ready, and comments with amusing frankness on many aspects of the production, including the chaos of the shoot ("You had to be there to see it"), the casting of Stephen Lack ("he can't act a character – he can be himself very well"), working with Michael Ironside ("Extremely professional") and Patrick McGoohan ("Fantastic in his role, but here was another British actor who drank like crazy" – those wondering what he means by "another Brit actor" should remember that he previously worked with Oliver Reed in The Brood). In common with almost everyone else interviewed on this disc, he recalls how the effects team solved the problem of the exploding head, and regards his three-film producer-director relationship with Cronenberg – whom he describes as "smart and so talented" – as one of the best of his career.
Exploding Brains & Popping Eyes – Interview with makeup effects artist Stephan Dupuis (9:33)
Having heard everyone else comment on how the exploding effect head was achieved, it won't come as a surprise that this is a key area covered by special makeup effects man Dupuis, but he also talks about working with and learning from Dick Smith and his continuing working relationship with Cronenberg – Dupuis was also makeup designer on the director's most recent feature, Cosmopolis.
Bad Guy Dane – Interview with actor Lawrence Dane (5:18)
A short but still engaging interview with actor Lawrence Dane, who talks about playing sinister ConSec security chief Braedon Keller, the pleasure of working with David Cronenberg, how he approached the interrogation scene, and working with Patrick McGoohan, whom he was a fan of from The Prisoner. "There's one thing you can't say about Patrick," he says with a grin, "that he was a teetotaller."

Edito para añadir que acabo de descubrir que el compañero repopo colgó una abundante ristra de capturas de la edición alemana de Subkultur aquí.

Y aquí podéis ver unas cuantas de la edición australiana.

La única que me sirve para compararlas es esta captura de la de Subkultur (comparada aquí con el horror de la edición alemana anterior), que podéis ver aquí en la edición australiana.