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Brad Bird: Blu Better Than the Big Screen
November 2, 2007

Ratatouille and The Incredibles writer-director Brad Bird has been let down lately by the theatrical experience, but Blu-ray is perking him up about movies again.
In a Q&A session during the Oct. 29-30 Blu-ray Festival in Los Angeles, Bird said he likes how Blu-ray gives viewers the opportunity to see the film as he envisioned. And if people wind up sitting through a big screen showing of his work, with a huge scratch running down the middle of the film for two and a half hours, (as was Bird's personal hell during a Spider-Man screening), all is not lost with Blu-ray.
"You're going to see all the detail we put into it," said Bird of Ratatouille, streeting on DVD and Blu-ray on Nov. 6. "There is horrendous amount of detail. They won't see that unless people get [suitable] projection and sound. And unhappily a lot of theaters don't offer that. Theatrical relases are so wide today, that getting quality control across all prints is hard. And Blu-ray is a perfect copy of the film - color balance is exactly what we intended it to be."
Also, as an animation perfectionist, Bird tends to fine-tune films for their home video release, which looks all the more amazing in high-definition.
"I'm a hard guy," said Bird, joking that he actually describes himself with words that shouldn't be spoken aloud. "If they give me a chance to make a film better, I will always abuse the privilege."
For the Ratatouille BD disc and DVD, Bird was able to make Remy the rat's hair blow, which in the theatrical cut was unnaturally still while riding on a motorcycle. Also, Remy dons a chef's hat at the end of the film, which wasn't in the original print.
"I was flabbergasted to see how good the picture quality is on Blu-ray," said Bird. "If your film is going to reside after the theatrical run then I can't think of a better way for it to reside." 
  

Posted by Susanne Ault on November 2, 2007 | Comments (0)