Funny, You Don’t Look Critical
“When are you gonna stop writing all those negative stories about Pixar?” asked Brad Bird, the puckish 50-year-old Academy Award® winning animator, writer, and director. With a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye Santa Claus would envy, he went on, “What’s all that [business] stuff got to do with making movies?”
Bird had just finished answering a question I’d put to him about his decision to have some of the voice actors in his hit CG-animated film Ratatouille affect French accents while others spoke in their own voices (more on that in a moment) when he put the preceding questions to me.
I knew in an instant what had happened. It’s happened before, far more frequently than I care to admit. Bird, standing less than two feet away from me the entire time we were talking, had confused me with that other stocky, bearded pop culture columnist from back east.
Personally, I’ve never understood how this happens. I think I’m much better looking than that other guy. Nevertheless, always mindful of the old Hollywood adage, “I don’t care what people say about me, as long as they get my name right.” I quickly set about reassuring Mr. Bird that neither o-meon nor I had felt the need to be critical of the Disney-Pixar acquisition.
It was also a heck of a good time to slip him one of my business cards; unfortunately, I had run out of them by the time Brad and I began our conversation about Ratatouille.
Which brings me back to my question for Brad regarding his decision to have some of the non-French actors, like Janeane Garofalo (Colette), Brad Garrett (Gusteau) and Sir Ian Holm (Skinner), affect French accents for the film while the remaining performers, like Lou Romano (Linguini), Patton Oswalt (Remy), and Brian Dennehy (Django), spoke in their own American accents.
“It had to do with several things,” Bird said. “As we researched the film, we discovered there is no one French accent…there are many. It depends on the region of France you’re talking about. Just like there’s no one American accent.”
He went on to say that the pattern of “French sounding” speakers evolved into being those working in the kitchen. “Everyone else was an outsider, so we decided that only the [characters] working in a French kitchen would speak with a French accent.”
Have you seen this man? If you do please remember he's not that other guy.
He works for us here at o-meon.
Blu-ray for Hollywood
I was fortunate enough to be able to talk movies with one of the hottest directors in Hollywood, because the good folks at Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment had been kind enough to invite me—at least, I think it was me they were inviting—to the rollout party for the Ratatouille DVD and Blu-ray DVD, and the Cars Blu-ray DVD.
The party, part of a weeklong media blitz by the Mouse and the Blu-ray Disc Association, was a lavish shot across the bow at the other contending high-definition DVD format, HD DVD.
The war between these two competing formats was almost over until the HD DVD folks began buying up support and playing their trump card: cheaper prices.
Disney and Pixar aren’t taking this lying down. John Lasseter told the assembled audience of media correspondents at Tuesday night’s gathering,
At Pixar, we’re always inspired by technology. I always say that the foundation of Pixar is that art challenges technology and technology inspires the art. We took a look at what the Blu-ray technology gives you; we got inspired by it and created special features for this disk.
In his remarks, Bob Chapek head of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment went even further.
Blu-ray's dominance is becoming inevitable for one simple reason: The Blu-ray technology, and therefore the home entertainment experience, is superior. The most innovative and visionary companies in technology and entertainment understood Blu-ray's superiority from the outset. That's why our partners, which number over 170 companies worldwide, have been so committed to Blu-ray, and that is why Blu-ray has attracted such broad-based support throughout the entertainment and technology worlds. The Blu-ray technology is, quite simply, superior to any other hi-def alternative because it is a revolutionary, not an evolutionary technology.
He also quoted Michael Bay, director of Paramount/DreamWorks’ summer blockbuster Transformers, as saying, “As a director, my critical eye is that Blu-ray is where my money is.”
Despite its director’s preferences, Transformers is currently available only in the DVD and HD DVD formats.
I like the picture quality generated by HD DVD technology, but I have to tell you I was completely blown away—at least in the case of Cars and Ratatouille—by the Panasonic flat-panel, hi-def images coming out of the Panasonic Blu-ray Disc players on display at Tuesday’s event.
I saw both of those films in state-of-the-art 2K Digital Projection theaters, and neither screening came anywhere near close to revealing the level of detail actually contained in Cars and Ratatouille.
Actor Brian Dennehy and writer director Brad Bird from the Disney/Pixar CG-animated film Ratatouille.
Images copyright© obe-mediaone.
Having just missed John Lasseter, I asked Brad Bird if, as a director, he wasn’t concerned that given the fact that so few theatres in America are equipped to project high quality digital images, audiences might choose to stay home and wait for the Blu-ray version of films to come out.
“Boy,” he said emphatically, “that question would take nearly two hours to answer fully.” And to prove his point, he went into a brief dissertation about the state of showmanship, or the lack of it, in American cinema exhibition.
“It’s really a subject best suited for another time,” he said, and he was right. Who knows? Maybe this means I can get another interview with him in the near future!
The grownup geeks’ guide to the HiDef DVD Wars
- In 2009, all TV will be broadcast in high definition (Hi-Def).
- You’ll need either a new Hi-Def TV or a converter* box to watch television.
- Current DVD technology, while good, ain’t as great as Hi-Def.
- Blu-ray and HD DVD are competing formats.
- Blu-ray has greater capacity, an open development path, and costs a bit more to produce players and discs.
- HD DVD holds less data, is pretty much at the end of the technological line, and costs less to produce players and discs.
- Apple, Dell, Sony, Disney, and FOX all support Blu-ray.
- Universal, Paramount/DreamWorks and DreamWorks Animation support HD DVD.
- Warner Brothers is releasing movies in both formats.
- Blu-Ray sales surged when Sony released PlayStation 3 with Blu-Ray drives.
- The battle was almost over until HD DVD signed exclusive deals with Paramount and DreamWorks Animation.
- Toshiba, an HD DVD maker, announced sub-$200 players just in time for Christmas.
- Today, Wal*Mart held a “Secret Sale” of $99 HD DVD players.
- Backhandedly referring to their customers as cheapskates, K-Mart announced it will drop Blu-ray players and discs for being too costly for K-Mart shoppers.
- Later the same day K-Mart vehemently denied dropping Blu-ray from its shelves
- In a real hip-check to Blu-ray, the porn industry has let it be known they favor HD DVD—do you really want to watch porn in Hi-Def?
*Converters will only change the HiDef signal into analog to work with your old TV, they will NOT convert your old set to HiDef
CORRECTION: In the first edition of this story I said Universal Studios was releasing its films in both HD DVD and Blu-ray, this was not correct. In terms of major studios in North America, HD DVD is currently exclusively backed by Universal Studios (including subsidiaries Focus Features and Rogue Pictures), Paramount Pictures (including Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies, MTV Films, DreamWorks Pictures and DreamWorks Animation), The Weinstein Company (including Dimension Films), and First Look Studios. And, apparently they're all very touchy about this.
I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
C’ya real soon!
