Kevin's Watch

the new Unrated Director's Cut DVD which comes out Tuesday has some important scenes put back in that were edited out of the theatrical release.

dANdeLION wrote:I wish all dvd's had an option to run the movie with all the deleted scenes in place......

ComingSoon.net wrote:The Further Chronicles of Riddick
Source: Edward Douglas November 16, 2004

Actor Vin Diesel has become a bonafide action star in recent years, yet despite the success of his movies, he never appeared in anything resembling a sequel until earlier this year, when he starred in David Twohy's follow-up to the 2000 cult science fiction film Pitch Black. Since the first movie, Diesel starred in a number of big action movies like The Fast and the Furious and XXX, but reprising his role of the serial killer Riddick was such a labor of love that the actor made plans to make a trilogy of films starring the character with Twohy.

The Chronicles of Riddick was not the big summer blockbuster many expected, earning under $60 million, but it should have a new life on DVD as it takes full advantage of the medium, adding the usual commentaries and such, but also adding deleted scenes which introduces a new character played by Kristin Lehman that was never seen in the theatrical release. The DVD also includes a playable chapter from the X-Box game "Escape from Butcher Bay".

Although Diesel was busy shooting his latest film, he talked to ComingSoon.net about Riddick and the DVD release of the first movie in what he hopes will be a successful sci-fi trilogy.

CS!: When you were first introduced to the character of Riddick, did you always feel this passionately about the character and did you always think he was going to have this extended life?
Diesel: When I first did Pitch Black, I was drawn to this intense character arc, which was the first one I had seen that was that interesting. He starts out as this serial killer and then he's the only guy you want to save you. I thought that was really an attractive element to doing the first film. Once I was actually shooting in Australia and we were nearing the end of production--it might have been while we were shooting some of the shots leaving the planet--that's when I started to think how cool it would be if we could follow Riddick off of this planet and allow him to introduce us to this whole universe and mythology. That concept started while we were nearing the end of our production shoot in Australia for Pitch Black.

CS!: How pleased were you with the theatrical cut of Chronicles of Riddick, and what did you want to go back into the Director's Cut?
Diesel: I was pleased with the theatrical cut, but I was excited about the DVD director's cut because of the idea of adding other story elements to the film that we weren't able to incorporate into the theatrical experience. I think what we're finding is that the DVD medium is defining itself as a separate medium, unlike the VHS copies of movies we used to get that were just an opportunity to see the movies at home. The DVD experience is an opportunity to fully explore the Chronicles of Riddick universe and an opportunity to go behind the scenes in an interesting way. The director usually gets an opportunity to tell the full story and not be limited to theatrical running times.

CS!: How important did you feel the footage was that was put back into the movie and what does it add to the film?
Diesel: I think it starts to flesh out a sense of origin for Riddick, our enigmatic protagonist, in a cool way. The Shirah character (as played by Kristin Lehman) shows up in important moments. In creating this story, she was designed to introduce Riddick to his Furian nature, so on the runway, she unleashes this burst of Furian energy that actually repels his negative energy, for which you'll see a longer explanation in future Chronicles of Riddick pictures. When we were creating this story, we were creating a story that would be told over three films, and the Shirah character plays to that. She's introduced in this film, but is paid off in the third film. The way that it's designed-and I hope that I'm not giving too much away-is that in Chronicles of Riddick 2, we go into the Underverse, and then C3, if you will, is that final return home to Furia.

CS!: Are the next two films a lock? Are they definitely happening?
Diesel: Nothing's a lock in this world. I guess we'll see what happens with the DVD.

CS!: Do you think that the DVD will bring a whole new life to the film? Do you think that a lot of people will wait for the DVD since it will be unrated and have more footage?
Diesel: Yeah, I think people wait for the DVD. Pitch Black was really introduced to the world via DVD. I don't know how many people actually saw the movie in the theatre, but when Pitch Black came out, it was introduced in the DVD format. I always thought that The Chronicles of Riddick is this intense ball of energy that hasn't really exploded yet and will continue on throughout the DVD release. There's a sequel to the video game being made. There is constantly work being put into the franchise. I think there will be a follow-up, because you'll have to see Riddick go to the Underverse and ultimately, you'll have to see him go back to Furia.

CS!: How much of that is riding on the success of the DVD in terms of the future of the franchise?
Diesel: Good question, but it depends on whom you ask. For me, we made Pitch Black with 20 million dollars, and I think that you can continue this character regardless of the film budget. You follow me? Will the next film be a PG-13 $100 and something million dollar movie? I don't know. By virtue of the fact that it takes place in the Underverse, which is obviously going to be a lot more gruesome than New Mecca, the sequel to this would be Rated R like Pitch Black.

CS!: Is it possible that the story can continue in animation or the video games?
Diesel: That was the whole idea of having the other formats. That was the idea behind doing the Peter Chung homage to Riddick. (Note: The animated Riddick film Dark Fury came out on DVD in June.) That was the motivating force in Tygon creating the video game "Escape from Butcher Bay" with Starbreeze, because it would give us the opportunity to explain the back stories of Riddick. In the video game, you learn how he got his eyes, and you learn what he's been doing [since the first movie]. The video game does a lot to flesh out the universe and the mythology, and that was what was so much fun.

CS!: Do you consider this to be your Lord of the Rings?
Diesel: Yes. This is only partially fantasy obviously. The expertise of David Twohy is that sci-fi world, so this was a fusion of fantasy and science fiction or at least that was the objective.

CS!: What are your thoughts on the gamble of coming up with this mythology with no assurance that it will ever pay off?
Diesel: Yeah, it's thrilling and it's frightening, because you're going for a story that isn't done in a reactionary way. It isn't like you do a film and then you make a lot of money and put something else together. I think we're being responsible in our storytelling by thinking of all three stories before making the first one. There is that level of anxiety, because you get questions like, "Is the future film dependent on that?" because it's a realistic question. If you're enjoying the creative process, then it's never life threatening to be creative.

CS!: Did you feel that you had to make this movie as concise and independent of the other two as possible even knowing that this is only the first chapter?
Diesel: I don't, because the whole objective in my mind is to try to introduce characters in this first film that don't payoff in a very George Lucas '70s way until later films, but that speaks to a very well thought out trilogy. The film business is so arbitrary…I mean we made Pitch Black for a company called Polygram. (Note: That company was merged into Universal shortly after.)

"The Chronicles of Riddick - Unrated Directors Cut" DVD comes out today.