Finally: The Fly (1986) and The Fly II (1989) Special Editions are coming in Fall of 2005! - Page 12

I can not wait for this title to hit stores this october.. One of my favorite titles....

Sweet....

R~

Funny, though, that the Fox Movie channel is airing every Fly film except for the 1986 remake in the middle of May, right when Jerome said the SE was ostensibly coming out in France...hmmm.

The Fly SE has disappeared from the website www.dvdactu.be.

I think It may indicate a delay until halloween or 2006 for France.

Yep, that seems to jive with the reports we've heard lately, which indicate a release around Halloween.

You mean 2005, no?

No, I think he means 2006. Chances are, with the SE coming out in Region 1 so late in the year, other Regions won't get it until later.

yes, 2006, after the halloween release in Region 1.

Anyone notice The Fly made it onto Time magazine's All Time 100 movies list?

Just spoke with Cronenberg and he loved the doc I made, Fear of the Flesh (clocking in at about 2 and a half hours now), and reversed his position on the leg-amputation part of the monkey-cat sequence, so the deleted reel 8B will be presented in it's entirety. He even said that he's started reevaluating his position on deleted material in general. I don't know how much The Fly can take credit for that, but I like to think it had something to do with it.

Obediently yours,

David Prior

Killer, David,

Nice to have someone in the biz that cares so much about his work to make a true difference for us all-- including leaving such an impression on the director! The wait is not only seeming to be worthwhile but also quite entertaining with your up-dates.

Great news! Thanks for the update, David!

David: Strike while the iron is hot and get Universal to license out the deleted Videodrome scenes to Fox.

DJ

Anyone notice The Fly made it onto Time magazine's All Time 100 movies list?

Just spoke with Cronenberg and he loved the doc I made, Fear of the Flesh (clocking in at about 2 and a half hours now), and reversed his position on the leg-amputation part of the monkey-cat sequence, so the deleted reel 8B will be presented in it's entirety. He even said that he's started reevaluating his position on deleted material in general. I don't know how much The Fly can take credit for that, but I like to think it had something to do with it.

Obediently yours,

David Prior
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Was this in a recent issue of Time? I must have missed it.

As for the rest of the post...frickin A, Mr. Prior. You've made my week.

One thing, though...

As I understand it, the entire sequence originally went like this:

1. Brundle creates monkey-cat.
2. Brundle kills monkey-cat.
3. Distraught, Brundle then climbs up the wall and out the skylight onto the roof, screams "NO!", then feels a pain in his side.
4. Brundle falls off of the roof and slides/climbs down the wall, landing on a metal awning.
5. The insect leg emerges from his side, he bites it off ("No! No, I won't...!"), and then he spits it out into a mud puddle, where it twitches a bit.

Now, From what I've heard, the primary reason that the leg amputation section was cut is because DP Mark Irwin had to leave the set (and subsequently the entire last week of shooting) for personal reasons.

Since it had taken hours to insert Goldblum into the false awning/torso set for the actual shot of the insect leg emerging and being amputated, an assistant DP had to take over.

Unfortunately, the completed shot was way, way too underlit to be readable in the dailies, so the the scene was scrapped. The rough cut (preview screening) version of the sequence thus presumably ended after the monkey-cat's death, before Brundle went out onto the roof.

So...will this be addressed for the DVD? Is that crucial shot of the insect leg amputation underlit? Will it be fixed somehow?

Also, I'm thrilled to no end about Cronenberg's reevaluation of deleted scenes. I just hope that some of The Fly's other gems, such as the Stathis foot-sucking bit, the alternate ending(s), and the post-teleportation Brundle interview (partially seen in The Fly II), among others, will be included or at least referenced.


Finally, our pal Donkey Kong of The Plasma Pool fansite (http://plasmapool.esmartweb.com/) received a tip recently that The Fly SE would be a single-disc release (double-sided, perhaps?). Can you confirm of deny, Mr. Prior?

Awesome update. Thanks.

You can see Time's list right here.

The passage regarding The Fly says:

Yes, the film only gets better with age. Which is kind of the point.

Thanks for the link, Scott.

And of course, it's ironic that the film itself mentions the possibility of Brundle being on the cover of Time. Heh.

The Fly will be two DVD 9's. With close to four hours of supplemental material (not including commentary), there's no other way to do it. I'm not sure who this tipster was, but it was never going to be a single disc.

As to reel 8B, Cronenberg had problems with the leg amputation beyond just the lighting; he was never satisifed with the sequence as a whole. That said, it's misleading to think of them as different sequences -- it's one long scene that begins with the monkey cat and ends on the awning, and the rough cut screening in Toronto included the whole thing.

As far as other deleted scenes go, you will see more than you probably expected, most of them transferred from the original negative. From whole scenes, like Roni's interview of Brundle after the first teleporting, to excised bits of dialogue (poetry of the steak, etc.), even the bag lady murder in script form (it was never shot). Some are set apart in the Deleted Scenes section, the majority of them are contained within the documentary. And yes, there's quite a bit of foot sucking.

Based on what he said, I think the thing that changed Cronenberg's mind about the deleted material was the intense level of detail in the documentary. I edited the thing as I hoped it would live, knowing he might want me to cut huge chunks out. Thankfully, however, he appreciated the approach. He said it was like "re-living the whole experience, but in the best possible way." That was an amazingly gratifying thing to hear.

As always, obediently yours,

David Prior

Thank you, sir!!!!

The good news just keeps coming in. I had wondered if the "foot-sucking" was a completed scene. The only picture I had ever seen of it had Brundle-Fly holding the foot with his human tongue sticking out. I thought maybe the special effect was never completed. It's good to hear it'll be on there.

Thank you Mr. Prior for the update. I can't wait for this one.

Wow 2,5 hour documentary alone on The Fly, brilliant.

I am curious to know who will be doing the commentary.

Would it be David Cronenberg himself ?

Thanks David

Yes, there will be commentary by David Cronenberg. I tried to get Howard Shore to do one as well, but I couldn't schedule any time with him. Busy guy, as you can imagine.

A few specific comments:
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The Fly will be two DVD 9's. With close to four hours of supplemental material (not including commentary), there's no other way to do it. I'm not sure who this tipster was, but it was never going to be a single disc.

As to reel 8B, Cronenberg had problems with the leg amputation beyond just the lighting; he was never satisifed with the sequence as a whole. That said, it's misleading to think of them as different sequences -- it's one long scene that begins with the monkey cat and ends on the awning, and the rough cut screening in Toronto included the whole thing.

As far as other deleted scenes go, you will see more than you probably expected, most of them transferred from the original negative. From whole scenes, like Roni's interview of Brundle after the first teleporting, to excised bits of dialogue (poetry of the steak, etc.), even the bag lady murder in script form (it was never shot). Some are set apart in the Deleted Scenes section, the majority of them are contained within the documentary. And yes, there's quite a bit of foot sucking.

Based on what he said, I think the thing that changed Cronenberg's mind about the deleted material was the intense level of detail in the documentary. I edited the thing as I hoped it would live, knowing he might want me to cut huge chunks out. Thankfully, however, he appreciated the approach. He said it was like "re-living the whole experience, but in the best possible way." That was an amazingly gratifying thing to hear.

As always, obediently yours,

David Prior
*********************

Yeah, the monkey-cat/leg amputation was always one sequence, but people have tended to see them separately. I think maybe they tend to think of the leg amputation more as a brief coda to the monkey-cat sequence.

And as for the inclusion of the other deleted scenes and bits...wow. A Cronenberg commentary and all those deleted moments were what I wanted to get when I set out on this Fly SE quest of mine.

And really, there is a surprisingly large amount of material that was cut from the film. I have two versions of Cronenberg's script (though the actual shooting script is elusive), one of which includes the baglady murder.

There actually aren't too many *scenes* (filmed or not) that were cut (a possible alternate main title sequence, Brundle and Ronnie walking up the stairs to the lab, Brundle's post-teleportation interview, the monkey-cat/insect leg amputation, the butterfly baby epilogues, etc.).

But there were *tons* of little lines, moments, and scene extensions that were cut (one favorite cut line of mine is Ronnie's "What are you going to do, read it 'Naked Lunch'?" comment from the "poetry of the steak" scene).

These cuts include Ronnie confronting Stathis about the Particle Magazine mockup, Brundle turning on the computer before his teleportation, dialogue after Brundle's superhuman exercise, Ronnie meeting Dr. Cheevers at the clinic, and the Stathis foot-sucking, among many others.

Certainly, the final cut works very, very well. But references to the deleted scenes and moments are there if you know where to look. Seeing these deleted bits gives a greater insight into the film--in terms of character and story--and the filmmaking process.

Being a very documentary-type of filmmaker (The Fly almost plays like a documentary on the life cycle of the "Brundlefly" species), it follows that Cronenberg would be impressed by someone else's documentary on his documentary-esque film.
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Yes, there will be commentary by David Cronenberg. I tried to get Howard Shore to do one as well, but I couldn't schedule any time with him. Busy guy, as you can imagine.
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Yes...it would seem he's working on The Fly: The Opera!


And for Joe:C...
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The good news just keeps coming in. I had wondered if the "foot-sucking" was a completed scene. The only picture I had ever seen of it had Brundle-Fly holding the foot with his human tongue sticking out. I thought maybe the special effect was never completed. It's good to hear it'll be on there.
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I've seen only two photos from that sequence. One (in Cinefex # 28) is a behind-the-scenes shot of the crew operating the Brundle bust-up puppet as the proboscis is sucking fluid from the foot.

The other is from Fangoria # 58, and appears to feature Goldblum in the suit holding the foot and sticking out his *real* tongue.

In the final cut, Brundle pukes on Stathis' ankle, peels the foot off, and then we cut to Brundle licking his chops (with blood on his chin) and approaching Stathis' face.

It'll be intersting to see that missing bit of action.

Although, I think maybe the reason it was cut, and also why the baglady scene was written out of the script, is because those moments make Brundle into a cannibal and a killer. In the final cut, the only one he kills/maims is himself, really (And he only dissolves Stathis' hand and foot, but doesn't kill him).

Indeed, the final cut makes it seem Brundle is attacking Stathis for *emotional* reasons (Stathis is his romantic rival), but the deleted bit makes it clearer that his new insect instincts are telling him to *feed*.

That is the picture I was referring to. It had Goldblum(in makeup) sticking his tongue out.

I can't say how pleased I am at how this thing is shaping up. It certainly shows the power of faith (and constant begging)! It's as though the sheer willpower we fans have exercised these past few years has made the impossible possible.

Never in a million years did I 100% believe that Fox would wise up and give The Fly the full-on Special Edition treatment. Never did I believe that *all* of the major deleted scenes and trims would be included (Well, okay, Mr. Prior has not yet confirmed the butterfly baby ending(s), but it was at least implied...). I thought we'd be lucky if we got just the monkey-cat (without the leg amputation) and maybe a still gallery detailing some of the other scenes.

At the very worst, I thought we might get a cheapie, rush-job SE with a token Cronenberg interview or something created solely to promote Todd Lincoln's re-remake of The Fly (which seems to be stuck in limbo at this point).

But now, not only are we getting the deleted scenes, but also Cronenberg commentary *and* a 2 1/2 hour documentary (Too bad Cronenberg wasn't interviewed on-camera for the doc, but if he liked it, that's great!).


It's been quite a ride. For fun, let's do a little math:

Mr. Prior said there would be about 4 hours of extras (not including the commentary, which presumably clocks in at 90 or so minutes--the lenght of the film's running time).

The "Fear of the Flesh" documentary is now said to clock in at some 2 1/2 hours.

That leaves about 1 1/2 hours of extras yet to be accounted for. One wonders what will fill that span of time. (Not that I'm asking Mr. Prior to divulge *too* much--surprises are fun, and so is rampant speculation!).

There will be a Deleted Scenes section, though it's been said that the bulk of the deleted material will actually be included in the doc. I would guess stuff like the monkey-cat/leg amputation, the post-teleportation interview, and the epilogue(s) would fit in here.

There might also be some new featurettes on specific elements of the film, like makeup and such.

Perhaps the original EPK materials (featurette, interviews) will be included. I'm still a bit mad that the 2000 Fly Double Feature disc had this material in every Region *except* Region 1.

There will almost certainly be still galleries.

The film's trailer(s)and tv spots will also likely be included. I wonder how many trailers there were. Was there ever a teaser trailer, or just the one theatrical trailer seen on the 2000 Fly disc?

What other goodies could there be? A gag reel? An isolated score (with some juicy, unused music cues)?

We'll see.

Surely, there will be an official press release concerning the SE in the next few months (if October of this year is when this thing is coming out). Can't wait!

My commendations to David Prior and everyone else who has worked on this release. Just goes to show that patience and tenacity can really pay off. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I would also love to see an isolated track

Interesting about the re-remake. It's just as well, I suppose. Where'd you hear about it?

By the by, I checked out The Plasma Pool recently, and the same tipster who gave the (inaccurate) info about the SE being a single-disc also indicated that it'll be out in *September* of this year. Take that as you will.

I was kinda hoping that the re-remake would go though, if only to generate interest in the SE of Cronenberg's Fly (though, as I stated previously, the danger there was the potential of a rush-job SE created solely to promote the re-remake).

Now, though, that has proved unnecessary.

And really, yet another version of The Fly would probably just tarnish the legacy of the other films.


And interesting you mention an actual sequel...

There were rumors years ago that another sequel would be made (Despite the disappointment--critical, not financial--of The Fly II, although it made only about half the amount Cronenberg's film did.).

The most well-known rumor was that an "alternate" sequel would be made, with Geena Davis returning as Ronnie and giving birth to *twin boys*. This film would allegedly have been called "Flies", and Davis' then-hubby Renny Harlin was supposedly in talks to direct. Word has it there's a script out there...

And I believe one obscure rumor stated that in a sequel it would be revealed that the woman who gave birth and died at the beginning of Fly II was not Ronnie, but in fact *Tawny* (Wha--?)...*or* the sequel would deal with the fact that Tawny also became pregnant by Brundle.

Huh.