WILLIAMS SAYS HE & DE PALMA "ABOUT TO BEGIN WORK"
PLUS: WRIGHT INTRODUCES PHANTOM IN TORONTO;
'70s FLASHBACKS: WILLIAMS PERFORMING "HELL OF IT" FOR BRADYS AND HARDY BOYS;
P.J. SOLES & BETTY BUCKLEY COMMERCIALS

Williams has been trying to get a stage version together with De Palma since the 1980s, and De Palma had even discussed the project earlier this decade with Antonio Banderas, who had just appeared in De Palma's Femme Fatale, and had just had recent success on Broadway with the musical Nine. De Palma was set to direct a workshop for a stage version at the beginning of 2007, but then got involved in making Redacted instead. The news that Williams and De Palma are getting set to delve into the project is exciting, but note also that the halls of Valhalla Motion Pictures are currently buzzing with preparation for De Palma's next film project, The Boston Stranglers, which is due to go into production late this spring.

De Palma a la Mod reader Ryan Clark discovered a YouTube clip of Williams singing Phantom's closing number, The Hell Of It, on a Halloween episode of the 1970s TV show The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. The clip has also long been available for viewing as an "Easter Egg" at The Swan Archives by clicking any of the site's "Death Records" logos at the bottoms of most pages. Another startling find was made last week by Vinnie Rattolle: a clip of Williams singing The Hell Of It on an episode of the long forgotten The Brady Bunch Hour. In the clip, Williams gets to menace Peter and Greg Brady, and sings the song amidst a chorus of female dancers in costumes that could have come right out of Phantom Of The Paradise. Hearing Williams sing lyrics like, "Good for nothing, bad in bed, nobody likes you and you're better off dead" on such a cheery family variety show is somewhat surreal. Special bonus link: check out Vinnie Rattolle's unearthing of a couple of Carrie-era commercials featuring Betty Buckley and P.J. Soles.

If you are a fan of Michel Gondry and yet have never seen a Busby Berkley film, you need to rectify this immediately. Whether you are a musical fan or not, you cannot fail to be dazzled by the eye popping beauty of his choreography. The fact that his wildly inventive setpieces were made in the 1930s is just staggering, they still look impressive by today’s standards. And Phantom Of The Paradise is one of my all time favourite movies. Brian De Palma and Paul Williams’ 1970’s rock opera is genuine one off; satirical, magical, dark and hilarious. It’s both one of the most atypical films in De Palma’s canon, and one of his best.

In late 2007, Wright presented "The Wright Stuff" at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, and kicked it off with a pairing of Phantom Of The Paradise and Alan Parker's Bugsy Malone. Both films feature songs by Williams.

UPDATE: EDGAR WRIGHT TALKS ABOUT PHANTOM
Peet points out in a comment to this post that Wright has previously provided a commentary on De Palma's film at Trailers From Hell. In the commentary (which you can hear/see by clicking the embedded player below), Wright says that Phantom Of The Paradise has a terrible trailer, but is an incredible film. He also mentions that he tried to ape the take of Winslow running down a corridor (as seen in the trailer) for a scene in Hot Fuzz. (Wright also previously provided a Trailers From Hell commentary for De Palma's The Fury.)

LOVE FOR CARRIE
Another De Palma film being mentioned all over the place this Halloween season is Carrie. Today, romance writer Jill Sorenson wrote on her blog that Carrie is one of her favorite scary movies. "De Palma's masterpiece" was also screened under the stars last Saturday at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. In a U.K. poll of more than 6000 HMV customers, Carrie was voted the 24th best horror film ever made, according to results released yesterday. And just today, The Playlist team posted what they call the "Rosetta Stones of the fright genre." Here's what they say about Carrie:

Carrie (1976) begins and ends in a bloodbath. From the unforgettable opening scene as bullying girls unmercifully taunt the titular menstruating outcast with tampons ("Plug it up!") in the high school locker room to the prom night cataclysm that leaves Carrie soaked to the skin in pig's blood before unleashing her telekinesis for ultimate revenge against her vindictive classmates, this film remains today one of the most effective cinematic tragedies. Stephen King's first novel-to-film adaptation directed by Brian De Palma is not your standard horror flick, obviously, and the fact that Carrie is both the sympathetic protagonist and demonic villain — leaving the delineation between good and evil unclear — makes this film so powerful and classic. And who could forget Piper Laurie's bone-chilling performance as Carrie's bible-beating, devil-fearing, lunatic mother, in particular, the orgasmic exhalations of her kitchen knife crucifixion?

In separate Phantom news, Gerrit Graham will be a special guest at the third annual Manitoba Comic Con & Sci-Fi Expo this weekend in Winnipeg, where Phantom is a very popular cult film.

On September 10, 2008, to celebrate Brian De Palma's 68th birthday on the 11th, the Swan Archives website was expanded to include newly-discovered, never-before-seen deleted footage and outtakes from his 1974 masterpiece, "Phantom of the Paradise." This new material is exclusive to the Swan Archives and, we believe, constitutes the most significant Phantom-related archival discovery ever. 
 
The footage includes, for the first time anywhere: 
 
- The entire sequence in the record factory, where Winslow comes out of the record press, runs across the factory, and is shot by the guard. 
 
- Multiple takes of Beef getting the plunger stuffed in his face. 
 
- The original title sequence, as it looked before the film's title was changed from "Phantom" to "Phantom of the Paradise". 
 
- Nearly all the footage that was deleted or modified in the wake of the "Swan Song" dispute, as it looked prior to deletion/modification. 
 
- Two complete takes of Phoenix doing "Special to Me" (including a brief on-camera exchange between Jessica Harper and Mr. De Palma.) 
 
Three complete takes of the Juicy Fruits doing "Goodbye Eddie", including never-before-seen dance steps and other shenanigans. 
 
And, as Winslow might say, "there's more! Much more!" About 30 minutes in all. 
 
Some of the footage can be found at http://www.swanarchives.org/Production_Outtakes.asp and the rest appears at http://www.swanarchives.org/Production_Fiasco.asp