Special Edition DVD of Robert Zemeckis' "Contact" to be Released Dec. 16
by Warner Home Video
ÿ
12/02/97
Business Wire
(Copyright (c) 1997, Business Wire)
ÿ
BURBANK, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1997--
Zemeckis, Jodie Foster and Other Filmmakers Provide All-New
Commentary on Making of Film and Creation of Dazzling Effects
The Special Edition DVD version of "Contact" -- in which two-time Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey star for Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis -- will be released on Dec. 16.
The motion picture, with a gross of more than $165 million at the worldwide box office, will be Warner Home Video's first single-sided dual layer DVD .
Highlights of the new DVD 's special features include audio commentary by Foster, Zemeckis, producer Steve Starkey and a 40-minute "anatomy" of special effects sequences, with explanations by special effects supervisors Ken Ralston and Stephen Rosenbaum and 3-D computer graphic artist/animator Tim Wilcox.
The audio commentary features a mode in which viewers will be able to watch the entire film, scene by scene, with insightful and enlightening running dialogue from Zemeckis, Foster and Starkey.
For instance, Foster talks about the "amazing amount of details that these guys (the visual effects specialists) went through." As she reveals over one scene, "When breath is coming out of my mouth, it was as if the air in there was cold ... that was added in later."
And, finally, on Carl Sagan's contributions: "More than anything else, this movie speaks in Carl Sagan's voice and I think it does it with his spirit of poetry and romance ... It took a lot of people and a lot of visions to bring this one singular vision to its glory."
Kenneth Turan, writing in the Los Angeles Times, said of Foster's performance, "(it was created with a) skill and presence that dominate 'Contact' in the best possible sense."
In another portion of the commentary, Zemeckis remarks as he hears music swell, "I was just thinking what a great job Alan (Silvestri, the composer) did on this score. It's just a huge movie as far as the ideas are concerned. But it's so beautiful that (he kept) the music simple ... it's really elegant."
Zemeckis moves on to one of the visual effects: "And this (lap dissolve) is fun too; you can do it now on a computer instead of doing it in the old-fashioned (way). You can make it a little flashier, a little more interesting like what happens here."
Turan notes that under Zemeckis's "expert direction 'Contact' never loses touch with its 'who are we and why are we here' sense of wonder about the universe that is its greatest strength."
Michael Medved of the New York Post said the "film's climax offers an explosion of genuinely dazzling special effects," while Stephen Holden writing in The New York Times called "Contact," "technologically dazzling (and) the most intoxicating 'trip' movie ever made. The space travel sequences are breathtaking."
The "Contact" DVD takes viewers on a step-by-step tour of how these visual effects sequences were accomplished -- from the very opening "eye" shot, thought to be the longest digital effect shot ever done for a movie, to the NASA control room, the Harrier aircraft landing, the plane belonging to enigmatic billionaire S.R. Hadden (John Hurt), and the NASA machine destruction. Viewers can see how some of the effects are conceived and then built, layer by layer.
Mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio, the "Contact" Special Edition DVD contains an alternate French dialogue track, subtitles in English, French and Spanish, biographies and filmographies. All of the latter are accessed through a graphically spectacular menu called "Alien Encounters." "Contact's" single-sided dual layer allows viewers to access the complete movie and its special features, without having to flip the disc.
"Contact" tells the story of Dr. Ellie Arroway (Foster), a brilliant astronomer who receives the first extraterrestrial radio response from space. As she fights for her rightful place as leader of the scientific investigation and vies to be the single representative to leave the Earth and explore the new world of unknown galaxies (where she hopes to make contact), Ellie turns to her one ally from the past, Palmer Joss (McConaughey), a respected religious scholar and top-level government adviser.
Warner Bros. presents a South Side Amusement Company Production of a Robert Zemeckis Film: Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey in "Contact," starring James Woods, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt and Angela Bassett. The music is by Alan Silvestri; the film is edited by Arthur Schmidt, the production was designed by Edward Verreaux, the director of photography is Don Burgess, A.S.C.
The co-producers are Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan and the executive producers are Joan Bradshaw and Lynda Obst. The screenplay is by James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg, based on the story by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, and based on the novel by Carl Sagan. "Contact" is produced by Robert Zemeckis and Steve Starkey and directed by Robert Zemeckis.
"Contact" will sell for a suggested retail price of $24.98. For more information, visit the Web sites www.dvdwb.com or www.contact-themovie.com .
CONTACT: Warner Home Video, Burbank Carl Samrock, 818/954-2732
08:05 EST DECEMBER 2, 1997 |
