Culver City, Calif. (Mar. 14, 2011) – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment raises the curtain for the Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD release of the Oscar®-nominated animated film The Illusionist on May 10, 2011. Directed by two-time Academy Award®-nominated director Sylvain Chomet (Oscar® Nominee, Best Animated Feature, The Illusionist, 2010; The Triplets of Belleville, 2003), The Illusionist is a rich and touching animated feature about the father-daughter relationship between an aging magician whose art is slowly becoming obsolete and a young orphan girl just at the start of life’s journey. The script—originally penned by the late Jaques Tati (Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, Mon Oncle) as a love letter to his daughter—serendipitously found its way into the hands of Chomet by way of his sole surviving daughter Sophie Tatischeff who thought his hand-drawn animation style would perfectly suit the film.
The enchanting special features include a making of featurette and a rare look in to the animation process with line tests and progression sequences. The Illusionist will be available for the SRP of $38.96 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack).
The Illusionist Synopsis:
An outdated, aging magician, forced to wander from country to country, city to city and station to station in search of a stage to perform his act meets a young girl at the start of her life’s journey. Alice is a teenage girl with all her capacity for childish wonder still intact. She plays at being a woman without realizing the day to stop pretending is fast approaching. She doesn’t know yet that she loves The Illusionist like she would a father; he already knows that he loves her as he would a daughter. Their destinies will collide, but nothing – not even the magic or the power of illusion – can stop the voyage of discovery.
Special Features Include:
• “The Making of The Illusionist” Featurette
• The Animation Process: A rare look at the line tests and progression sequences
◦ “Chasing the Rabbit” Line Test
◦ “Window Shopping” Line Test
◦ “Fish and Chips” Line Test
◦ “Morning Routine” Line Test and Completed Scene Montage
◦ Garden Party & Travel Before & After Animation Sequences
◦ Steam, Splashes, Smoke and The Flying Scotsman Before & After Animation Sequences
◦ Tatischeff Before & After Animation Sequences
