Burbank, Calif., May 11, 2009 – Fourteen years ago, Oliver Stone shocked the world with Natural Born Killers, a disturbing hallucinogenic ride through the minds and exploits of two cold-blooded lovers who killed for sport, love and attention.
Prior to the theatrical release, Stone reworked the film, made more than 150 cuts, and removed approximately four minutes in order to get an R rating. Still, when the film opened in August, 1994, The New Yorker’s Stephen Schiff called it “the most radical film any studio has released since A Clockwork Orange.”
Now, this August 25th, Warner Home Video will release the original unrated film in a dazzling Blu-ray version ($28.99 SRP) that includes a new high-def introduction from Stone, a 44-page booklet on the film’s production and a wealth of bonus content from previous releases. A 2-Disc DVD ($20.97 SRP) will also be available.
Most importantly, Natural Born Killers Director’s Cut features NBK Evolution: How Would It All Go Down Now?, a new featurette from 6-time Emmy Award®-nominated producer Woody Thompson, illustrating how current communication technology would impact the film if it were made today.
Stone’s film takes a satirical swing at the American media world of 1994 which was becoming dominated by tabloid journalism. Mickey and Mallory are born out of a media frenzy and eventually kill for the media.
That led Thompson to wonder what if Stone were to shoot Natural Born Killers in 2009? How would he portray today’s instantaneous user-generated media society and its reaction to the exploits of Mickey and Mallory? How would the social networks and the blogs cover, discuss and rate each of their killing sprees? How many views and comments would their home-made videos generate on Youtube?
Thompson’s multimedia production company Eyeboogie, Inc. presents the answer in NBK Evolution: How Would It All Go Down Now?, which examines the issues and changes in the context of current media and even follows a timeline of the killers’ activities in cell phone videos, blogs, tweets and Facebook updates to demonstrate the timeline and fully immerse the viewers in the “what if?”
More about the Film and Oliver Stone
Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis star as husband and wife serial killers in this powerful, gut-grabbing look at how violence and crime are sensationalized and glamorized in the media. As Mickey and Mallory cut their swath of terror across America, they are regarded more like celebrities than fugitives. Robert Downey Jr. and Tommy Lee Jones also star.
Stone is one of America’ most prolific cinematic innovators and the recipient of three Academy Awards® — in 1978 (Writing, Midnight Express); 1986 (Directing, Platoon); and 1989 (Directing, Born on the Fourth of July). Other memorable Stone films include Wall Street, JFK, The Doors, Nixon, Any Given Sunday, Alexander, World Trade Center and W.
Natural Born Killers Director’s Cut Special Features
Disc 1
• Introduction by Oliver Stone (New Intro HD)
• Commentary by director Oliver Stone (from original SD release)
Disc 2
• NBK Evolution: How Would It All Go Down Now? – New documentary providing a look at how the film might be different if today’s technology advancements were available (in HD)
• Chaos Rising The Storm Around Natural Born Killers – Shocking ‘making-of’ documentary about the storm of controversy surrounding the film( from original SD release)
• Deleted scenes with optional commentary by Oliver Stone (from original SD release)
– The Desert
– Steven Wright
– The Courtroom
– The Hun Brothers
– The Drive-In
– Denis Leary
· Alternate Ending with introduction by Oliver Stone (from original SD release)
· Charlie Rose Interview – Charlie Rose interviews Oliver Stone on the making of this
violent film (from the HD DVD release in SD)
· NBK Director’s Cut Trailer
