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Shout! Factory has gone above and beyond with the supplements package on Phantom of the Paradise, offering a glut of special features on both the Blu-ray disc as well as an included DVD. Blu-ray Supplements •Brian De Palma Backstage at the Paradise (1080p; 33:07) is a really engaging interview with the film's writer-director. He talks about how he came up with the concept, and moves on to discussing the song score, casting (including a nice remembrance of William Finley) and the actual shoot. •Paul Williams Soul Inspiration (1080p; 34:54) is an exceptionally informative interview with the film's star and composer. This makes an interesting, if somewhat repetitive, companion piece to the interview conducted by Guillermo del Toro which is found on the DVD (see below). •Behind the Mask with Tom Burman (1080p; 4:09) is an interesting interview with the film's special effects supervisor, focusing on the weird helmet that Leach wears after he becomes The Phantom. •Alternate Takes (1080p; 26:21) provides eleven different sequences, shown in split screen which shows how they appeared in the final version of the film as well as different angles and/or coverage for selected scenes. •Swan Song (Outtake Footage) (1080p; 7:27) is an absolutely fascinating piece detailing the efforts in post production to remove any references to the original name of Swan's music enterprise. The name needed to be changed to Death Records after Led Zeppelin actually formed a Swan Song Records. This helps to explain the really goofy looking traveling matte that's quite obvious in Swan's press conference in front of his Lear Jet. •Still Gallery (1080p; 13:50) •Audio Commentary with Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham and The Juicy Fruits (Archie Hahn, Jeffrey Comanor, and Harold Oblong AKA Peter Elbling). This is quite chatty, and tends to have a lot of "wow, do you remember that?" going on, but Harper gets into some details about working with Williams, whom she idolized for his music, and Graham talks about things like cinematography and lighting. As has been reported on our Forum, there's a brief overlap of separately recorded comments by Harper and Graham at around 1:11:06. It only lasts a few seconds, and serves mostly as a brief annoyance and/or wake up call to whoever was on QC for this particular item. •Audio Commentary with Production Designer Jack Fisk is a bit more sporadic than the other commentary, but gets into a bit of the nuts and bolts of the design process. DVD Copy •Paradise Regained (480i; 50:10) is a great documentary detailing a lot of the background and production of the film. This has great interviews with a lot of the principal cast and crew, and contains some hilariously trenchant observations about how desperate people are in Hollywood, to the point that some would happily sign a contract with Satan to ensure their success. •Interview with Paul Williams Moderated by Guillermo del Toro (480p; 1:12:16) is a great piece, with del Toro obviously delighted to be talking to Williams. This covers a huge range of information in a wonderfully conversational manner. •Interview with Costume Designer Rosanna Norton (480i; 9:34) is engaging enough, but was evidently sourced from a 2004 home video camera interview, so doesn't look particularly great. •Interview with Producer Edward R. Pressman (480p; 19:03) finds Pressman reminiscing about his pre-existing relationship with De Palma, and how strongly he felt about Phantom of the Paradise from the get go. •Interview with Drummer Gary Malaber (480p; 17:05) talks about touring with Williams and ending up in the film as part of the on screen band. •Alvin's Art and Technique: A Look at the Neon Poster (480p; 11:36) is a neat little piece on the film's poster designer John Alvin, with interviews with his widow. •Phantom of the Paradise Biography by Gerrit Graham (480p; 9:32) features Graham reading a biography/record review he wrote for the film's press kit. •William Finley and Toy (480i; 00:33) is a brief piece with Finley showing a Phantom action figure. •Radio Spots (2:34) •TV Spots (480p; 5:19) •Theatrical Trailers (480p; 5:07) •Still Gallery (480p) |
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