Thu Dec 22, 2005

A Chat With Director James Gray on "The Yards - Director's Cut"

DVDFanatic
By Kara Warner

For director James Gray, Christmas came early this year. Last week marked the end of a five-year project and self-proclaimed labor of love, the Director's Cut DVD release of his critically acclaimed film The Yards. We were lucky enough to talk with him about the experience, as well as plans for his next film.

DVDFanatic.com: So tell us why it took so long to produce this DVD? What was the process like?

James Gray: It was brutal. Disney did it basically because we needed a new transfer of the movie, it was so poorly transferred originally, but also because I had been whining for a long time and had really wanted it to get out there. It’s really hard to see somebody change what it is that you originally had in mind [referring to the original cut of the movie]. They agreed finally to do it because I promised I would get the actors together for a round table, which was a lot harder than I anticipated. It’s a hard thing to do, because it was very much a labor of love for us, this DVD. As a consequence we had to really ask favors and that sort of thing.

DVDFanatic.com: How do you feel about having put together such a dynamic, wonderful cast, whose careers have now skyrocketed?

JG: Isn’t that weird? When I made the movie they [Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix and Charlize Theron] hadn’t done really anything. Joaquin had done To Die For, and had just shot Inventing the Abbotts, Mark had done nothing. I was trying to get the picture made for some time with a variety of different actors and then finally, openly, I said “This is nonsense. What I should do, is just make the movie with people that want to do it, that really care about it.” And so that’s how the movie came together. These are the actors who were most passionate about it and then I just had to fight the fight for them. Believe it or not, it was not easy to get the studio to cast them. Which is rightly so in some ways because they had never done anything. So the movie just fell into place that way. I think Mark became hot because of Boogie Nights, which was shot, but had not yet [been] released. And Joaquin, of course now, he’s something else. I don’t know if you’ve seen Walk the Line, he’s fantastic. You knew it would eventually happen for him because he’s just brilliant.

DVDFanatic.com: One of the things Mark says about Joaquin in the roundtable is that “He’s got a lot going on in his soul.” I thought that comment seemed to fit him perfectly.

JG: Mark, the great thing about him in another sense is he has what I call “blue-collar earnestness,” he’s very authentic. In a way, Mark has been undone by the fact that movies don’t really care about class anymore. He’s the kind of guy you’d believe in On the Waterfront as a long shore man. He picked up his strength. Joaquin’s is an inner-turmoil, which he really brings to an audience. More...

Posted on Dec 22, 05 | 9:19 am | Permalink | The Yards

Wed Dec 14, 2005

MovieWeb Travels Through The Yards with Director James Gray

Movieweb
By Evan Jacobs
There are moments when you do this kind of “press” work that you realize how lucky you are. I had this happen to me when I recently interviewed James Gray about the DVD release of his sensational film, The Yards.

The Yards is a drama set in the vast New York City subway yards. After serving time in prison for taking the fall for a group of his friends, Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) just wants to get his life back on track. So, Leo returns to the one place he thinks will be safe -- home. There, he takes a new job with his highly connected and influential Uncle Frank (James Caan), and is reunited with his longtime friend, Willie Guitierrez (Joaquin Phoenix) and Willie's girlfriend Erica (Charlize Theron). But in the yards, where his uncle now pulls the strings, safe is not how they do business. Unwittingly, he's drawn into a world of sabotage, high stakes pay-offs and even murder, when he discovers secrets that make him the target of the most ruthless family in the city ... his own. Now, in the name of justice he'll have to do everything in his power to take them down.

This is a movie that stands out because of how genuinely well realized it is. The pace is deliberate, the dialogue real and the action not stagey in the way most films stage their action today. With only this film and Little Odessa to his credit, James Gray truly epitomizes that rare artist who says so much by saying so little. More...

Posted on Dec 14, 05 | 9:16 am | Permalink | The Yards

Mon Dec 12, 2005

The Yards: Director's Cut out Tuesday!

Amazon.com
The Yards: Director's Cut out on DVD!!
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I'll review it when I get it from the hunky UPS man! If you've forgotten, this is the movie Mark did with Charlize, before TIJ and with Walk the Line's Joaquin Phoenix.

Posted on Dec 12, 05 | 10:49 pm | Permalink | The Yards

Fri Sep 16, 2005

The Yards: Director's Cut

Davisdvd.com
Buena Vista Home Entertainment has announced The Yards: Director's Cut for release on December 13th. The Mark Wahlberg drama arrives with an anamorphic transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1, a commentary with director James Gray, a second commentary with director James Gray and Steven Soderbergh, deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette, "Visualising The Yards" featurette, a roundtable discussion (with Charlize Theron, Mark Wahlberg, James Caan and James Gray), original concept art and the trailer. Retail is $19.99.

Posted on Sep 16, 05 | 9:48 pm | Permalink | The Yards