Director Roland Joffe Talks About THE MISSION DVD (1 Viewer)

[Randy A Salas]

I recently interviewed director Roland Joffe about the new two-disc special edition of his 1986 Oscar-winning film, The Mission. As I promised in the thread for Ron's dandy review of that DVD, here are some assorted comments by the director from the interview that I didn't have room to use in my write-up.

Roland Joffe ...

On what a well-presented special edition this is:

"Yes. He also tells me that my Italian is terrible."

Joffe also noted that he was involved in all aspects of the DVD's production and supplements, and he expressed shock that not all directors do the same. These comments will appear in a short article I'm writing for next week, when Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing (whose DVDs had no participation by the Coen brothers) arrive, so I can't post them yet.

(These interview excerpts are (C)2003 by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and may not be reposted.)

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Looks good, Randy. I heard a story about the Coens and how they were supposed to cast retrospective interivews hosted by Billy Bob Thornton (in character from "The Man Who Wasn't There") on both films but decided not to at the last minute. Apparently, their moods -- as you'd expect -- are very mercurial.

 

[oscar_merkx]

thanks Randy for the interview

 

[LukeB]

Interesting read, as always!

 

[Charles de Lauzirika]

Actually, the Coens did have some participation in the making of the "Barton Fink" and "Miller's Crossing" DVDs. They approved or rejected a variety of supplemental material presented to them by Fox. They also supplied storyboards, as seen in the featurette "Shooting Miller's Crossing." Fox wanted them to be involved, but they were understandably busy with "Intolerable Cruelty."

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

The new DVD edition of THE MISSION is outstanding, really worth buying, in my opinion. The day before I watched it, I coincidentally watched Herzog's COBRA VERDE and the two films are very similar, both equally fascinating and emotionally moving.

Warner did a great job on THE MISSION.

Cheers, Randy.


Gordy

 

[Randy A Salas]

Actually, the Coens did have some participation in the making of the "Barton Fink" and "Miller's Crossing" DVDs. They approved or rejected a variety of supplemental material presented to them by Fox. They also supplied storyboards, as seen in the featurette "Shooting Miller's Crossing." Fox wanted them to be involved, but they were understandably busy with "Intolerable Cruelty."

I'll have to check further into that. It does not jibe with current information I have from an interview with a Fox executive. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Nathan V]

Great post. Very interesting comments. I wish Joffe got a bit more attention in the industry; he deserves it.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Regardless, I'm looking forward to both Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink with baited breath and I'm glad that there are at least a few extras. Now where's that 16x9 Raising Arizona re-do?