"Acting Carrie"

» Stars Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, William Katt and PJ Soles discuss being cast in 'Carrie.' (length: 2:20)

"Visualizing Carrie"

» Brian De Palma and Lawrence Cohen discuss adapting 'Carrie' to the screen. (length: 1:50)

"Reflections on Carrie"

» Stars Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, PJ Soles, Betty Buckley, Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie discuss the legacy of 'Carrie.' (length: 2.10)

DVDFILE: Given that you are a Brian De Palma scholar of sorts, having written so much on his work, where these new De Palma DVDs the culmination of a dream project for you? How do you finally get them off the ground?

Laurent Bouzereau: It was interesting. I had been trying to work with MGM for quite some time and was waiting for the right project. I remember you asked me a question once, which was did I ever miss working on a title I really wanted? If I hand to answer, it would be that I ever had any regrets it wasn't doing the James Bond movies. I didn't get to do those, but anyway, a very good friend of mine worked at MGM in marketing and introduced me to the people in DVD, who were fantastic. And they asked "Do you have any titles?" And replied that I had heard that MGM had acquired the Orion library which included Dressed to Kill and Blow Out, and it happens to be the 25th anniversary of Carrie...

DF: I can see the marketing wheels turning...

LB: (laughs) Yes, they said, "Ahhh, Perfect! Go ahead!" Unfortunately, Blow Out was already pressed. It wasn't that they didn't want to put anything on the disc, it was just already done. So unfortunately that one is coming out as is, but if it does well enough I'm sure somewhere down the line it will be reinvented somehow. So it is up to people out there to really make it a success! (laughs)

DF: And, of course, that is my favorite De Palma movie! I know it is hard to pick favorites amongst your children, so to speak, but do you have a favorite?

LB: Dressed To Kill is my favorite.

DF: I'm not sure what that says about you... (laughs)

LB: First of all, I saw it at a very pivotal time in my life. I was forming my taste in film, and I had seen a lot of stuff, but I couldn't really say there was a specific style I liked or whatever. But Dressed To Kill was the first time, right from the opening credits, and the music, and the first sequence, something so incredibly sensual and violent at the same time, and so shocking. I understood immediately what the manipulation was that was taking place of the audience, more than ever before. I'm not saying it was the first time it was done, but it was the first time I was really aware of it as a spectator. When I saw that movie, I just said "That is what I want to do." I was already about seventeen, and I did want to be involved in film - I was already collecting tons of stuff - but it was the difference between discovering sexuality and falling in love. I wanted to know everything about this movie, I want to know how it was made, I wanted to understand it all...

DF: This is going to be a hammy segueway, but it is interesting you use an analogy of sexuality. De Palma's films have always been quite criticized for their subject matter, but Dressed To Kill may be his most controversial work, especially the violent and sexual imagery. It was really attacked in its day, and still is. And fair or unfair, I don't think De Palma has ever really shaken his reputation for being a misogynist...

LB: The thing is, I never really saw the movie or Brian's work in general from the perspective of sociological analysis. I think there are movies that are irresponsible in terms of what they are about or how they are done. I think in Brian's work, however, it is so operatic, so cinematic. You would never judge an opera, saying "This is opera is violent." Everyone dies in an opera! (laughs) But you wouldn't say it is irresponsible. It is the same thing with Brian's work. I've just never experienced it that way, that it is irresponsible. It is disturbing, and it is profound. But I think I was more interested in the technical aspects to it and his approach to the material. I don't know if that makes me crazy... (laughs)

DF: Dressed to Kill is being released on DVD with both the R-rated and Unrated versions available on the same disc. I was struck watching them both how seamless it looks on DVD. Was it difficult to locate a decent print of the cut footage?

LB: You know, I'm very rarely involved in that part of it. But in this case, I was really aware of the different versions (of Dressed To Kill) because of my previous work. Actually, a chapter in my book The Cutting Room floor compares the different versions of the film. There was a so-called "unrated" version released on laserdisc a few years ago, and it was correctly labeled unrated, but there was still one line of dialogue left in that had been dubbed for the R-rated version. That's the seduction scene between Nancy Allen and Michael Caine.

DF: Ummm, the "I can tell by the size of that bulge in your pants" line? (laughs)

LB: Yes. I pointed that line out to them. I said, "Be careful if you're using that master and calling it the unrated version," because it would only be about 95% true because the visuals are all there but the dialogue is wrong. So they were very careful about that, so I believe everything has been corrected. The movie you'll have now on DVD is, uh, anatomically correct! (laughs)

DF: It is funny, having read your past written work on De Palma, including The De Palma Cut, On The Cutting Room Floor and Ultraviolent Movies, I thought of them while watching the "Dressed To Kill Comparison" on the DVD. It struck me that even when unrated or uncut versions are included on DVD, very little if any context is given. I hate to say it, but anyone can throw on the unrated version of a film, but I really think it is worth so much more to offer some sort of explanation of what was missing and why it is important to reinstate it. This might come off as esoteric in a way, but do you think that your background as a writer has helped your work as a DVD producer, because as also evidence by the Carrie "novel to screen" detailed production notes you produced, much of your work seems to offer more context than most supplementary material these days.

LB: Yes, definitely. That was an idea I had from my book. I just remember laughing so hard watching the movie on TV, because there is just nothing left. It just makes for a completely different experience. Because De Palma's work is so visual and so driven by dialogue, and he was out to shock you (at the time) with the word "Fuck" every other line, Back then, as Dennis Franz actually points out in the documentary, it was unusual to have that word every other line. It was a lot of fun to show the progression, or the degradation, rather, of the film after the cutting. There is definitely a point to be made there...