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DF: Do you think the success of the DVD format might actually have an effect on - well, I don't want to say censorship - but the ratings system? MGM didn't seem to have much of a problem not only releasing Dressed To Kill unrated on DVD, but also offering so much material on the cuts required to get the R rating. You didn't seem to pull any punches in the documentaries.

LB: I think times have changed, for better or worse. I think that when you watch Dressed To Kill today, it is mild when you compare it to what is being made today. I mean, geesh, when you think of Hannibal,...I really thought I was immune to anything on the screen, but I literally could not watch that movie. Not just the brain scene. I found it really unpleasant. You know, that image of slashing the belly. I find it really horrifying.

DF: It's also a really bad movie...

LB: Hannibal makes Dressed To Kill look like Cinderella, as far as I'm concerned. I don't know if Dressed to Kill was done today if it would generate the same rating it did back then. My feeling is probably not.

DF: I think they'd still have a problem with the nudity, ironically enough, but not the violence. I think our country has it all backwards, to be honest.

LB: It is funny. I was just in Paris recently and went to see a movie. And over there they have like a half hour of commercials before the feature. Which is torture! (laughs) Anyway, this commercial starts, and it is three women in the shower, completely naked. And you see everything. And I'm looking around like, "What is this commercial for!?" And everybody is just like watching this like it is a day at the park. And suddenly you noticed that all the women have tan lines on their wrists, and it is a watch commercial! I'm just like, this would never be shown anywhere near the United States! So times have changed.

DF: Well, at least they have outside of the States, ha ha! Anyway, getting back to the subject of DVD instead of soft-core porn (laughs), I was impressed with the breadth of the supplements on both Carrie and Dressed To Kill. However, I was wondering if you could elaborate a bit on what I've noticed seems to be a recent trend with DVD. Most documentaries seem to be getting shorter, but multiplying. Instead of a one or two hour piece, your getting two or three smaller features...

LB: I think I've been, well, not criticized in the past but I've read remarks that I tend to do very long documentaries. And they suffer because that's going to be the only line on the packaging or the menu screens...

DF: You mean, they only get one bulletpoint out of it? (laughs)

LB: You know, it is an industry, and you have to grow with it. So I think I've made an effort with my last few projects to split things up a little bit more so it helps focus more on specifics. As opposed to having one big thing. Because also, when you have one long doc, you find yourself trimming things a bit more. But if you do a featurette about, say, just the music, you find yourself having the freedom to extend it a little more because it doesn't drag down the whole piece anymore. So I think it has helped me, actually, exploring the different aspects of filmmaking.

Also, I could not do a documentary that was longer than 45 minutes on these De Palma releases But I did ask them (MGM), "Could I do ten documentaries as long as they are each not longer than 45 minutes?" and they said, "Yeah, sure!" So, I decided to explore it, and especially on Dressed To Kill, given the controversy the film generated, I wanted to keep the making of the film separate from that and from an appreciation of the style of the movie. So I felt it was completely appropriate and, in this case, made it a richer experience overall.

And I wanted to explore the whole censorship idea, beyond just the R-rated and Unrated comparison. I think censorship or attempted censorship has many different forms - it comes from groups, reviewers misunderstanding a film, whatever. And I think as a piece by itself it is more powerful, I think if it would have been incorporated into one long documentary, you have to return to the end with "Well, it was a great movie anyway," and what-have-you and that can demean the issues. So I'm really happy I had a chance to force myself to split them up.

DF: On Carrie, you also created multiple pieces. It was funny, but there is "Visualizing Carrie," which is about the filmmakers, and "Acting Carrie," from the perspective of the cast. It reminded me of the film, because the film is really about multiple perspectives and De Palma used split screen so effectively...

LB: Yes, definitely. In the case of Carrie, it was a little more challenging because I explored the movie twice, but from two different angles. The movie is all about point of view, so I thought it was really fitting. It gave you two different views on how the making of the film was experience both in front of the camera and behind it. And I'm really proud of it, and I didn't repeat myself unless it was to present a different version of the same story. I think people who enjoy the film and want to watch the documentaries will do so more than once, and will have fun with the different perspectives. "Huh, it is really interesting what Amy Irving had to say about the shower sequence, and what Brian has to say about the shower sequence."

DF: Though Stephen King does not appear in the documentaries, I enjoyed the detailed "Novel To Screen" production notes, another example of providing context...

LB: That was a huge disappointment, not getting Stephen King.

DF: Yes, especially since I believe he is a big fan of the movie, which is not usually the case with most of the adaptations of his work...

LB: Ironically enough, I know he has written that he is actually not a big fan of the actual novel. But my window was very short to do the project, so it was just a question of timing. I was really disappointed because I'm one of his biggest fans. It would have been really interesting to get him, because there is so much history to the book. If there is one criticism I have for myself, it is when I can't get somebody. That really drives me nuts.

DF: But you did, much to my delight, get the whole cast together. That must have been great fun, and Nancy Allen looks amazing!

LB: I've known Nancy Allen for years, so it was fun to finally sit down and talk to her. She is such a wonderful person. And everyone else - Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, PJ Soles, William Katt, Betty Buckley, Piper Laurie - it doesn't get any better than that. They were incredibly generous and fun and had so much love for Brian and the movie.

DF: Did you toy with the idea of reuniting all of them together?

LB: You know, I had this idea early on to do a class reunion of sorts, but that proved impossible. They all live all over the place, and, frankly, I just loved talking to them individually. I went through this also on The Big Chill - you get a different perspective and it is completely natural and you can then compare the stories and perceptions. And for me, the geek behind the interviewer, I get to spend a moment with them and that is just priceless.

DF: And, god bless you, you did create a featurette on Carrie The Musical...

LB: I think it was due to interviewing Lawrence B. Cohen, who wrote it and Betty Buckley who starred in the play. I knew I couldn't include any footage or music, due to rights clearances. As soon as you have music and other actors, you have to pay for that usage and it becomes a legal nightmare. The musical is part of the history of the film, and though it is a little dry the way I presented it, at least it documents it to some degree. Most people don't even know there was a musical. I regret being in New York (at the time) and not seeing it!