Aaron Reynolds
Screenwriter
Not to stir things up too much...but the bonus material on the LD of Soderbergh's King of the Hill explains the LD's approximately 2:1 AR as the intended AR for the film.
Apparently, some theatre chain in the States had been cropping scope and flat films all to 2:1 rather than changing the screen shape between features. To present King of the Hill properly under these conditions, it was shot in Super35 to be distributed on anamorphic 35mm prints with safe area on both sides -- pretty much the scenario being described with AN, aside from the originating format. The prints were not opened up at the top or bottom, but instead distributed as 'scope prints with extra info at the sides.
Of course, I don't believe this to be the case with AN. I'm sure that it was composed for 2.2:1 for 70mm, since the 6-track mix was a big part of the film and 6-track was only available with 70mm. Storaro himself has said that the cropped AR is due to the limitations of video.
edits: clairity and grammar
[Edited last by Aaron Reynolds on November 13, 2001 at 04:09 PM]
Apparently, some theatre chain in the States had been cropping scope and flat films all to 2:1 rather than changing the screen shape between features. To present King of the Hill properly under these conditions, it was shot in Super35 to be distributed on anamorphic 35mm prints with safe area on both sides -- pretty much the scenario being described with AN, aside from the originating format. The prints were not opened up at the top or bottom, but instead distributed as 'scope prints with extra info at the sides.
Of course, I don't believe this to be the case with AN. I'm sure that it was composed for 2.2:1 for 70mm, since the 6-track mix was a big part of the film and 6-track was only available with 70mm. Storaro himself has said that the cropped AR is due to the limitations of video.
edits: clairity and grammar
[Edited last by Aaron Reynolds on November 13, 2001 at 04:09 PM]