[dtsguy]

 http://www.avclub.com/articles/william-friedkin-talks-killer-joe-and-shares-some,83023/




AVC: So what was your reaction to the criticisms of the French Connection Blu-ray? You personally re-timed the colors for Blu-ray, and some people felt you’d defaced a masterpiece.


WF: Oh, The French Connection Blu-ray, the master that we made was absolutely perfect. Then when Fox took it out to reproduce it, mass production, it goes through four different companies. It got screwed up badly, and I didn’t know that. I had only seen the master; I never saw any of the playback copies. And Owen Roizman, the cameraman, got a copy at Best Buy and said it looked like ****! He denounced it. I said, “What are you talking about?” He brought his copy in, and we ran it next to the master, and he was right. The prints were badly made. So we remade them, he and I supervised a new version of the Blu-ray, which went into a Best Buy exclusive, for I think six months, and then it’ll go broad—it’ll replace the other one. What I learned was that Fox, when they put that DVD out, there was a little warning inside the box that said, “This may not play well on your home receiver. If it doesn’t, write to w-w-w dot so-and-so, so-and-so. We’ll send you a disc that will make your own playback receiver compatible.” This was like a caveat emptor. And Roizman was right. The copies were all over the place. That’s not a perfect process, either. We made new ones that should be great, because we had a different company do the mass release. They’re at Best Buy, and when their exclusive expires, they’ll be everywhere.

 

[oink]

This is exactly why filmmakers should always, ALWAYS proof the finished BD (and, yes, I have been saying this for years)....

 

[dtsguy]

I'm baffled because what's in the finished product is exactly what he demonstrates doing in the featurette......

 

[Franchot]



Quote:
Originally Posted by NagysAudio  /t/1422040/friedkin-disowns-french-connection-br-1-0#post_22254464


Friedkin is a complete liar and a fool!

Right! He's backpedaling. This wasn't the tune he was singing when that first Blu ray came out. He was proud that his remastered version looked more like an edgy documentary. He claimed he always wanted his film to look like that. "His vision" looked like crap and enough people called him on it.

 

[InspectorToschi]

Must be a slow news day. I figured this controversy was behind us.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dtsguy  /t/1422040/friedkin-disowns-french-connection-br-1-0#post_22254458


I'm baffled because what's in the finished product is exactly what he demonstrates doing in the featurette......

...And? What does it matter how or why he changed his mind? We now have a beautiful looking blu-ray of the film. Regardless of how he got there, Friedkin now seems to feel the same way. Everyone wins.


I guess I just don't see the point of bringing back this argument after the fact.

 

[InspectorToschi]

Except we went through this months ago when the new BD came out. He said the same thing in previous interviews promoting the new BD. So he's a hypocrite. Who cares? This is what's wrong with AVS' attitude that people mock. Even when you have a great Blu-ray, something must be tore down and ridiculed. Again, I just don't see the point of repeating what's already been said countless times. It's a thread promoting both sides being an a-hole. Nice...

 

[Franchot]

Plus, people put out good money to buy a piece of junk AND the work of his cinematographer was tarnished. I didn't see Friedkin coming out immediately and disowning the first Blu ray and insisting that the product be recalled and that the corrected version be given to all those who bought "defective" copies.


I believe that "Gladiator" had some problems when it was released and Ridley Scott raised hell about it. Friedkin, on the other hand, did nothing and if you didn't pick up the news about the Best Buy exclusive you were out of luck. (You were still out of luck since Fox wasn't replacing those who bought the original Blu rays with the corrected version.)


I agree that everyone who bought the first pressing should be able to turn it in for the newest pressing free of charge.


In addition, in several cases of Fox movies (the DVD of Cleopatra and the Blu ray of West Side Story) Fox had an exchange program when the discs went out with flaws so it's not like Fox doesn't correct problem discs. Friedkin was happy with the first Blu ray and proclaimed it to be good, so Fox wasn't going to rock his boat.

 

[oink]

OK, fair enough....maybe WF should have said something sooner....

With that in mind, where are we with FOTR????

 

[Fanboyz]

He righted his error, he did the right thing. That's all that matters.

 

[Geoff D]

What a crock. The original version of TFC on Blu-ray was every bit as ****ed up as Friedkin wanted it to be. Yet when people questioned his madness, including the fella who shot the movie, hey, let's blame it on someone else!


I'm ECSTATIC that we got a new version, BTW. But Friedkin lying out of his arse about what happened has sent my estimation of him right back down into the gutter.

 

[thirdkind]

So when does this stop being a Best Buy exclusive, if ever? I'd like to get it, but $25 is a bit silly.

 

[wuther]

Friedkin is at least part salesman (see his promoting on the Exorcist BD supplements) and he's hardly the only director. The director of American Werewolf in London made the same kind of statements about the BD that was little different then the HD-DVD released years before. Not to mention Universal gets other filmmakers to say things that are dubious at best about the BDs.


What's amazing is posters who take what these part salesmen say at face value before seeing the BD or even caps.

 

[dvdmike007]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dtsguy  /t/1422040/friedkin-disowns-french-connection-br-1-0#post_22254420

http://www.avclub.com/articles/william-friedkin-talks-killer-joe-and-shares-some,83023/

AVC: So what was your reaction to the criticisms of the French Connection Blu-ray? You personally re-timed the colors for Blu-ray, and some people felt you’d defaced a masterpiece.

WF: Oh, The French Connection Blu-ray, the master that we made was absolutely perfect. Then when Fox took it out to reproduce it, mass production, it goes through four different companies. It got screwed up badly, and I didn’t know that. I had only seen the master; I never saw any of the playback copies. And Owen Roizman, the cameraman, got a copy at Best Buy and said it looked like ****! He denounced it. I said, “What are you talking about?” He brought his copy in, and we ran it next to the master, and he was right. The prints were badly made. So we remade them, he and I supervised a new version of the Blu-ray, which went into a Best Buy exclusive, for I think six months, and then it’ll go broad—it’ll replace the other one. What I learned was that Fox, when they put that DVD out, there was a little warning inside the box that said, “This may not play well on your home receiver. If it doesn’t, write to w-w-w dot so-and-so, so-and-so. We’ll send you a disc that will make your own playback receiver compatible.” This was like a caveat emptor. And Roizman was right. The copies were all over the place. That’s not a perfect process, either. We made new ones that should be great, because we had a different company do the mass release. They’re at Best Buy, and when their exclusive expires, they’ll be everywhere.

http://imgur.com/7PbLk.gif%5B/IMG%5D

So when the director is never wrong argument comes up, I can link here right??

 

[oink]



Quote:
Originally Posted by wuther  /t/1422040/friedkin-disowns-french-connection-br-1-0#post_22256790


Not to mention Universal gets other filmmakers to say things that are dubious at best about the BDs.

Although people lost jobs and/or prestige at Uni over the death of HD-DVD, the studio's actions tend to reinforce the observation there are some lingering bad feelings.

And to be fair, it isn't surprising.....losing one's friends and colleagues in the workplace always leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.

 

[Josh Z]



Quote:
Originally Posted by oink  /t/1422040/friedkin-disowns-french-connection-br-1-0#post_22257273


Although people lost jobs and/or prestige at Uni over the death of HD-DVD, the studio's actions tend to reinforce the observation there are some lingering bad feelings.

And to be fair, it isn't surprising.....losing one's friends and colleagues in the workplace always leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.

The French Connection is not a Universal disc. It has absolutely nothing to do with Universal or the HD format war. Please let the format war BS go. It's been over for years already.

 

[wuther]

Oink is still at it. Guess getting his posts deleted was not enough to deter him.

 

[dvdmike007]

And you are helping how exactly? Why the need for the baseless argumentative comments in every thread of late?

 

[oink]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Z  /t/1422040/friedkin-disowns-french-connection-br-1-0#post_22257798


The French Connection is not a Universal disc. It has absolutely nothing to do with Universal or the HD format war. Please let the format war BS go. It's been over for years already.

I never said it was a Universal disk, now did I?

Please re-read my post and the post I was referring to in the quote (#15).

You're skimming again.

BTW, why are you still touchy, after all these years, about the history of home HD optical disk technology?

Quote:
Originally Posted by wuther  /t/1422040/friedkin-disowns-french-connection-br-1-0#post_22258401


Oink is still at it. Guess getting his posts deleted was not enough to deter him.

I don't have any idea what you are talking about...for some reason, it appears you're not too fond of me.


But that's OK, I don't scare easily.

If you wish to debate me about any subject related to the topic at hand, please....be my guest.

Otherwise, snide remarks don't carry much weight around here.

 

[wuther]



Quote:
Originally Posted by oink  /t/1422040/friedkin-disowns-french-connection-br-1-0#post_22259511


I don't have any idea what you are talking about...

lol. Sure you dont and probably dont blame me for your same 're-fighting the format war' posts getting deleted.

 

[lyris]

That's hilarious. Sounds like he's trying to say the picture from the master magically changed when it was replicated. The guy clearly doesn't have a clue about how optical disc replication works.

Quote:
He brought his copy in, and we ran it next to the master, and he was right. The prints were badly made.

LOL, the "prints". They're discs, William