Blade Runner Special Features

I've got the running times of many of the special features (aside from the Dangerous Days documentary and commentary tracks) from the 5-disc Blade Runne set that is coming soon. I'm getting more excited by the day.

BEYOND THE WINDOW - VISUAL EFFECTS - 28 minutes and 44 seconds
IN NEED OF MAGIC - POST PRODUCTION PROBLEMS - 23 minutes
TO HADES AND BACK - REACTION AND RESURRECTION - 24 minutes and 11 seconds
THE ELECTRIC DREAMER - REMEMBERING PHILIP K. DICK - 14 minutes and 17 seconds
SACRIFICIAL SHEEP - THE NOVEL VS. THE FILM - 15 minutes and 7 seconds
SIGNS OF THE TIMES - GRAPHIC DESIGN - 13 minutes and 38 seconds
FASHION FORWARD - WARDROBE AND STYLING - 20 minutes and 38 seconds
SCREEN TESTS - RACHAEL AND PRIS - 8 minutes and 52 seconds
THE LIGHT THAT BURNS - REMEMBERING JORDAN CRONENWETH - 20 minutes

[EDIT: Now italicised above are three of these features that, actually, are part of the Dangerous Days doc]

Meet Mr. Nobody

Culture Cafe have the exclusive first look at a few pieces of production artwork and a synopsis for Jaco van Dormael's Mr. Nobody. Here's the beginning of their plot outline:

The present day, more or less. Nemo (Jared Leto) is 35, an ordinary man, married to Elise (Sarah Polley). with three children. But life's tuming strange : billboards flash messages addressed only to him; he passes strangers with his face on the streets; behind the façade of a half-constructed building, he sees helicopters lifting enormous blocks of the ocean...

Nemo wakes to find himself trapped in his car, drowning. He wakes and is shot by an unknown assassin. He wakes again... by a swimmmg pool in the grounds of an opulent mansion. With a new wife and new children.

Again the Gilliam comparison presents itself, as well, perhaps, as Phillip K. Dick and Charlie Kaufmann. And Fellini. And, at a push, Vincenzo Natali. And some would say Alex Proyas.

Well... anyway, van Dormael is his own man, and he's very good. In his own right. And, Leto aside, I'm having very few doubts about this one.

And...Next!

Next is based upon a story by Phillip K. Dick and features Nic Cage and Julianne Moore. Sounds great - then you see Lee Tamahori is the film's director and there's a sound like a rapidly deflating balloon in your ears.

The film's TV spot from Taiwan is now on line and looks okay. Not exactly Paycheck, but not exactly Imposter either. And the less said about Minority Report the better. Let's put Next on a par with Screamers and be done with it.

Mike Markus sent us the link.

How To Talk To Girls At Parties

Courtesy of his own wonderful, elf-maintained site, you can now listen to or download the full audio of Neil Gaiman's How to Talk to Girls at Parties. It comes in Mp3 flavour only.

This story has been nominated for a Hugo, and rightly so. Several decades from now when the options of any number of Gaiman shorts are getting mulled over by movie execs, much like Phillip K. Dick has been treated in the last few years, this one is likely to come quite near the top of the list.