DEL TORO INTERVIEWS PAUL WILLIAMS
FOR ARROW'S 'PHANTOM' BLU-RAY; COMPLETE SPECS REVEALED
The not so bad news is that Arrow Video's Blu-ray release of Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise has been delayed one week, to February 24th. The wonderfully awesome news is that the reason for the delay, according to The Swan Archives' News page, is because a 72-minute interview between Paul Williams and Phantom-fan Guillermo del Toro had to be delayed, and was finally shot "just a couple weeks ago on location at del Toro's man-cave," according to the Principal Archivist. "In addition to that brand new interview," reports the Archivist, "the extras on the Arrow disk will include a new featurette (scripted by our Principal Archivist, and utilizing our Swan Song Fiasco footage) discussing the last minute changes made to the film as a result of the claims brought by Peter Grant, which you can read more about, if you're so inclined, on our Swan Song Fiasco page. The disc will also feature all of our collection of deleted footage and outtakes, run together from beginning to end, available for the first time in a hi def transfer (which Arrow made directly from our archival camera negatives and interpositives). Arrow has licensed Deborah Znaty's terrific "Paradise Regained" featurette, which was first released on the Opening DVD in 2006, the "Carte Blanche" interview with costume designer Rosanna Norton, and William Finley's faux advertisement for the Phantom action figure, also from the Opening disc. Arrow is also using Randy Black's backstage photographs (which Mr. Black had unearthed specifically for the Swan Archives a few years ago, and which appear in lower resolution on our Production page). And, the collector's booklet that accompanies the disk contains some writings by our Principal Archivist, as well as new writing on the film by festival programmer Michael Blyth. In addition to our deleted footage, Arrow borrowed our radio spots, and will be stocking the release with the original trailers as well. In terms of technical features, the disc will showcase the film in 1080p with the original uncompressed stereo soundtrack (PCM) and a 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, as well as, for the first time anywhere, an isolated music and effects soundtrack (so that you can hear the incidental music without dialogue playing over it!)."

The rest of the Archivist's news post is worth reading for its details about how the Archivist was holding on to the outtakes and deleted scenes, in the hopes they could be used for a special edition just like this. "We attempted on numerous occasions to get in touch with Criterion," states the Archivist, "but they never responded. We made sure that both Brian De Palma and (Phantom editor) Paul Hirsch knew that we had the footage. We told Mr. De Palma that we'd be happy to deliver it to him should he so request; he told us that we should just hang on to it, and that the materials were better off in the Archives' hands. Mr. Hirsch told us that if anyone wanted to try to restore the film using our footage, he'd be happy to help."

Here are the complete specs for Arrow's Phantom, as posted at Blu-ray.com:

Special Features:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, available in the UK for the first time!
• Original uncompressed Stereo PCM / 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio options
• Isolated Music and Effects soundtrack
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
• Paradise Regained – A 50 minute documentary on the making of the film featuring director Brian De Palma, producer Ed Pressman, the late star William Finley, star and composer Paul Williams, co-stars Jessica Harper and Gerrit Graham and more!
• Guillermo Del Toro interviews Paul Williams (72 mins, 2014)
• The Swan Song Fiasco: A new video piece exploring the changes made to the film in post-production
• Archive interview with costume designer Rosanna Norton
• William Finley on the Phantom doll!
• Paradise Lost and Found: Alternate takes and bloopers from the cutting room floor
• Original Trailers
• Radio Spots
• Gallery of rare stills including behind-the-scenes images by photographer Randy Black
• Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by festival programmer Michael Blyth and an exploration of the film's troubled marketing history by Ari Kahan, curator of SwanArchives.org, illustrated with original stills and promotional material
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress [Amaray release only]
• Limited Edition SteelBook™ packaging featuring original artwork [SteelBook only]

'PHANTOM' RERELEASE IN FRANCE FEB. 26
AND JANUARY SCREENINGS IN NASHVILLE & CHICAGO
Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise, which turns 40 this year, is part of the January line-up at Nashville's Cult Fiction Underground, a theater and lounge located in the basement of Logue’s Black Raven Emporium, according to Nashville Scene's Randy Fox. The film will play there on Saturday, January 18th. Meanwhile, according to The Swan Archives, Phantom Of The Paradise will get a theatrical rerelease in France beginning February 26th, courtesy of Solaris Distribution. Watch the trailer for the French rerelease at the Swan Archives news page. As noted two weeks ago, Phantom Of The Paradise will be screened in DCP as part of Doc Films' De Palma Retrospective in Chicago, which started this week. Phantom screens there January 22nd.

AND IT HAPPENS JUST LIKE THAT
EDGAR WRIGHT, PAUL WILLIAMS IN TWITTER-TALKS WITH SHOUT FACTORY FOR 'PHANTOM' COMMENTARY

SCREAM FACTORY RELEASING 'PHANTOM' BLU-RAY
LATE SUMMER REGION 1 COLLECTOR'S EDITION WILL HAVE NEW EXTRAS
Scream Factory today announced on its Facebook page that it has just signed a deal to release a Blu-ray edition of Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise. The announcement states that the Blu-ray will be released as part of the company's "Collector's Edition" series in the latter half of summer, 2014, and will include "new extras," but there are no further details to report at this time. In a comment to the Facebook post, Fangoria editor-in-chief Chris Alexander wrote, "FANGO cover here we come!"

As we look forward to this February's Region 2 Phantom Blu-ray from Arrow Video, we wonder whether Scream Factory will be working with Arrow as it prepares its release, or if the company will strike its own master and extra features. It would surely be tough to beat the Arrow version, which has the participation of Ari, the Principal Archivist at The Swan Archives, who recently shared on that site's News page that "the Arrow Blu-Ray is going to include The Swan Archives' deleted Swan Song footage in a brand new featurette that we've been working on with them. And, as Winslow might say, 'there's more...MUCH more!'" The more the merrier, we say!

'PHANTOM' IN LOUISVILLE FRIDAY NIGHT
PSYCH MOVIE NIGHT II, WITH TWO BANDS AFTERWARD

DE PALMA AT THE DRIVE-IN
'PHANTOM' & 'SCARFACE' TO SCREEN AT MIAMI DRIVE-IN, NOV & DEC, RESPECTIVELY
Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise will be the first film to be screened by Miami's new Secret Celluloid Society. The society's screenings take place at the Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In, where Phantom will play at 10pm on Friday, November 15th. The society's Nayib Estefan tells Shelly Davidov of Miami New Times that Phantom is "definitely an edgy movie. It mixes together glam rock, death rock, and a bunch of people ripped of[f] the look and makeup style of this movie, like Marilyn Manson."

Estefan added that in general, "We want to give a memorable experience to the patrons. We'll be doing things with musicians, playing live scores over movies, a lot of experimental stuff that will always be changing...We want to bring back a midnight event to Miami that hasn't been here for a long time." Not sure if that means anything special for the Phantom screening, but you never know.

Separate from the Secret Celluloid Society, the drive-in is partnering with Vice magazine to mark the 20th anniversary of De Palma's Scarface with a screening on December 7th, according to Davidov.

COVER ART FOR ARROW'S 'PHANTOM' BLU-RAY
SWAN ARCHIVES: "THIS WILL BE THE BEST HOME VIDEO RELEASE OF 'PHANTOM' TO DATE"
The cover art for Arrow Video's upcoming Phantom Of The Paradise Blu-Ray was revealed today. The release is available for preorder on the Arrow Video website, which lists February 14, 2014, as the release date. Ari, the Principal Archivist at The Swan Archives, has been working with Arrow on this release. In an item posted today at the Archives' News page, he said that "although we can't provide specifics, we're confident in saying that this will be the best home video release of Phantom to date by a wide margin." Needless to say, we are looking forward to it.

'PHANTOM' AT TARRYTOWN MUSIC HALL WEDNESDAY
Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise will screen at 7pm this Wednesday (October 16th) at The Music Hall in Tarrytown, New York. The theater, which was restored in the late 1970s, was one of the very first theaters to show motion pictures back in 1901. Price of admission Wednesday is $5.

PARADISE CITY-- SLASH SPORTS 'PHANTOM' SHIRT
WHILE DOING PRESS FOR FILM HE PRODUCED & SCORED, 'NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR'


The image above comes from the Winnipeg Free Press, showing Slash (a.k.a. Saul Hudson) wearing a Phantom Of The Paradise T-shirt as he promotes his debut film as producer, Nothing Left To Fear, in Toronto. While Slash produced the film under his production company, Slasher Films, he tells the Winnipeg Free Press' Randall King that he is not interested in making slasher films. "The moniker 'Slasher' just goes along with my name, so it was the easiest thing," Slash tells King. "But it's really the antithesis of the kind of movies I want to make."

Nothing Left To Fear was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD October 8th. Aside from producing the film, Slash also co-composed the score, explaining to Rolling Stone's Steve Baltin that the score is important to him, "because that's the one thing where I actually know what I'm doing. The rest of it is just me using my wits and sensibilities and going to what I think I should do. But with the music, it's something I have a grasp on, and one of the reasons that becoming a producer for horror flicks was enticing was the fact that I could be responsible for the music. So in this film, it was understood from the very get-go that we wanted to do something orchestral. So I wrote a bunch of different music and played it for the director to see which one he thought fit his sort of cinematic vision for this thing. Then he introduced me to an old friend of his, Nicholas O'Toole, who's a scoring composer and sound designer, and so the music that we picked I gave to him and he interpreted it to an orchestral application. Then we just sort of worked hand in hand through the whole movie. It was great. It was really sort of a combination of people, but it was a lot of fun to do and I was really happy with the end result. Then Myles [Kennedy] and I have the theme song at the end."

As far as horror influences, Slash tells the Globe and Mail's Geoff Pevere that he, first-time director Anthony Leonardi III, and co-producer Rob Eric all universally loved Rosemary's Baby, and went for the "slow-burn" effect of Roman Polanski's film. Slash also mentions in two of the above interviews that as a kid, he was creeped out by George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead. In addition, he tells King, "When I was a kid, one of the big ones for me was The Omen, the original. I always thought it was a marriage of great directing, a great story and great actors. It was really well done, and it was made in the fashion of the old feature movie."

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S 'SIMPSONS' INTRO
INCLUDES SHOUT-OUT TO 'PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE' AT HALFWAY MARK

Guillermo del Toro directs the intro to this year's "Treehouse Of Horror" episode of The Simpsons, and includes a prominent shout-out to Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise, which del Toro has not been shy about discussing as one of his favorite films. About halfway through the intro, the Phantom of the Paradise, voice-box and all, is at his organ, making music with a choir made up of several other phantoms, but when Lisa begins playing her saxophone, the Winslow-esque character orders her to get out. Behind our Phantom is his Swanage recording studio, lovingly detailed, straight out of De Palma's film. The episode airs on FOX-TV this Sunday (October 6th). UPDATE: UPROXX's Warming Glow has a video showing every single reference in the intro.
(Thanks to Drew!)