Brian Wilson biopic: Love and Mercy

Very nice segment by Anthony Mason today on the CBS News Sunday Morning.

 

I'm pretty sure Al gets a line in when Brian freaks out in the airplane scene. Isn't that Al sitting right next to him?

 

You may be right. I just remember him looking bemused. Could be a "Brian!, Brian!" in there somewhere.

 

"I know you're gonna love Phil Spector!"

 

Don't get too excited, the video is nothing more than than the official US trailer...but..



...there is a nice little surprise, Digital HD release date is 8/25. That would, I presume, be the iTunes store, Google Play, Amazon, etc.

Also, in addition to the BD and DVD coming out on 9/15, the film will be available On Demand (I assume that's like TW and Comcast On Demand rental) same day.

 

The Blu ray has dropped to $12.96 at Amazon ! Cheapest price I found anywhere online !!!
.

 

Awesome price, cheaper than the DVD even. I was going to get it at Best Buy on Sept 15th but at that price, I decided to just order from them.

Off that topic and on to another. Here is a nice one-on-one interview with Elizabeth Banks, filmed in early June but just posted by the interviewer on YouTube 2 days ago:



There's worst things than staring at Elizabeth Banks for 13 minutes.

 

Thanks for the heads up.. Just pre-ordered the blu-ray.

 

It looks like there's finally a puff of smoke regarding the LOVE & MERCY soundtrack

Dear God in heaven...let this be true:

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Mercy-So...45&sr=8-13&keywords=love+and+mercy+soundtrack

Audio CD (September 18, 2015)
Label: Capitol
ASIN: B0123VJ88I

...

I happened to be looking at other Roadside Attractions films (MAGGIE & MR. HOLMES) and notices that their soundtracks were/will be released some time following the initial theatrical push. MAGGIE came out on May 8th and the soundtrack just got released on Varese Sarabande, coincidentally the DVD/Blu-ray just came out on that title. And MR. HOLMES was just released theatrically in the last two weeks. The soundtrack for that is listed as being released August 28th, via Lakeshore Records.

It doesn't make a ton of sense to me, but maybe that's what RA likes to do with soundtracks, release them closer to the home video push.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Just passing it along that there is a spectacular article in American Cinematographer (July 2015). If you are obsessed with this film, as I am, it is a must read and own. Also, there are several on set photos that I have yet to see anywhere else. Including one of Paul Dano (as 'Brian Past') in bed at the Bel-Air house circa early 1970s. Just stunning stuff. Apparently from a scene that does not appear in the finished film.

I really appreciate the gifts that people like Robert Yeoman (the director of photography) posses. There's an art to getting a specific look and this film pulls off multiple looks for the different periods so well. He and Bill Pohlad deserve a ton of accolades of this film, I hope they are remembered next spring.

 

I was thinking about the construction of this film again--how they jump from the Pet Sounds era to '80s Brian with nothing in the middle. And it occurred to me that this is probably a finesse to avoid having to deal with anyone but Brian Wilson and neutral third parties. To use the recordings you need the approval of both the entity that controls publishing AND the entity that controls the master recording. In the case of the stuff up through Pet Sounds, that would be Rondor/Universal and Capitol/Universal, respectively. For the '80s Brian stuff, that would presumably be Brian Wilson's publisher and whatever labels own the masters.

By not including anything controlled by Brother, they avoid having to get the remaining Beach Boys to sign off on the film.

Maybe this is well known and discussed around here, but I don't recall seeing it...

 

Originally, there was a 1970s Brian. The absence of the 70s was an artistic choice, I do believe. There have been several interviews where the director (Bill Pohlad) discussed the decision. Also going so far as to make the point that he envisioned someone like maybe Philip Seymour Hoffman playing the 70s Brian. As it stands, they chose to cloak that decade in mystery with just a few glimpses of an extra in bed.

Here, in another interview, the screenwriter Oren Moverman talks about the original vision of the film.

I don't think it had to do with music rights or anything. As it stands, the film is 120 mins. Moverman mentions in this same interview that the initial rough cut of the film was 160 mins. If they had included another era you can imagine what that running time would have ballooned to. I get the sense that Pohlad and Moverman wanted to focus on these two specific periods and from them perhaps find some essence of the man. It makes for a much more interesting character study than most of its genre that's for sure.

http://collider.com/love-and-mercy-oren-moverman-on-making-a-cinematic-brian-williams-biopic/

 

Finally got to see it tonight - excellent film. Paul Dano and Elisabeth Banks will definitely be nominated for their superb performances. I thought Cusack did a great job as well even if he doesn't resemble Wilson at all.

My friend who adores this film told me to see it in the theatre to enjoy not only the visuals but the sonics. She was right - hearing the Beach Boys songs on the big screen just makes the film resonate even more.

 

Couple of things..

The iTunes listing has a pre-order option and the date I have see (on Blu-ray.com) mentions 8/25 as the release date for digital. Of course, BD/DVD is September 15th. The same extras are listed as part of the package if you buy the HD version on iTunes.

....

The soundtrack appears to be coming the same week as the BD/DVD. Amazon, B&N, Best Buy all list the soundtrack as September 18th. The title appears to be "Music From Love & Mercy". I found this link the other day..

http://www.universal-music.co.jp/brian-wilson/news/2015/08/7#JyIeE2JrHJLP3URb.99

1. The Black Hole – Atticus Ross and Leopold Ross
2. Don’t Worry Baby – The Beach Boys
3. Silhouette – Atticus Ross and Leopold Ross
4. God Only Knows – Paul Dano
5. God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
6. Believe – Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross and Nick Chuba
7. Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
8. Losing It – Atticus Ross
9. I’m Right Here – Atticus Ross and Leopold Ross
10. The Bed Montage – Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, The Beach Boys, The Four Freshmen
11. Intersection – Atticus Ross
12. Love and Mercy (Live) – Brian Wilson
13. One Kind of Love – Brian Wilson

Looking forward, very much so, to all of it.

 

I was hoping for the Darian cover tune...............

 

Oh, Darian's "Love & Mercy"? I think those are his "stunt hands" when Cusack plays it for Banks.

 

[QUOTE="JCM, post: 12731042, member: 11007"I don't think it had to do with music rights or anything. As it stands, the film is 120 mins. Moverman mentions in this same interview that the initial rough cut of the film was 160 mins. If they had included another era you can imagine what that running time would have ballooned to.[/QUOTE]
I'd love to see the 160-minute version, but only if there was more stuff from the 1960s. Hell, I'd like to see a chronological edit of the movie that just played out all the 1960s segments, followed by the 1980s segments instead of having the nonsensical juxtapositions. The sets, costumes, hairstyles, and props they came up with for the '60s scenes was phenomenally good, particularly for an indie film with a relatively small budget.

 

. The sets, costumes, hairstyles, and props they came up with for the '60s scenes was phenomenally good, particularly for an indie film with a relatively small budget.[/QUOTE]

They were spot on remarkable.

 

I've preordered the blu ray
The film is still playing at two theaters in my area, Northern Virginia.

 

I think I misspoke about 160-minutes. I believe the quote from Oren Moverman actually said 140-minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes). Sorry about that. I'm pretty sure that there are no scenes from the screenplay that are missing in the finished film, from the 1980s. (Edit: Actually there may be one with Dee Wallace playing Melinda's mother). Basically, what I'm saying is that additional 20 minutes is 1960s (Paul Dano) stuff.

I too have kind of wondered about what a chronological edit would look like. Of course it would dramatically alter the film. But, not going to lie, it has crossed my mind.

A good example of how the pacing might have been manipulated can be found in the opening montage. There's a scene in the screenplay that plays out much like the real life "Help Me, Rhonda" session where Murry is well..Murry. Except, in the screenplay it's the "I Get Around" session. Little snippets of that scene, with no Murry, are in the opening montage of hits. This scene supposedly was still in the film when it debuted at TIFF last year. Perhaps one of the attendees can confirm? There's also a brief interaction with Phil Spector (the actor cast as Phil is still listed on the IMDb page) on the street.

Another example is found in this picture below. The film recently opened in Japan and I happened to be looking at the Japanese site which linked back to Facebook (I know, I need a life) but I found these two stills on that page. The first one looks like a scene, described in the screenplay, where Brian in his bedroom, Marilyn asleep in bed, and he's listening to "Be My Baby" over and over while eating cake. The way the script describes this is at the end of the first date with 'Brian Future', as he hangs his head after Melinda gives him a kiss and turns to go inside, you hear the opening drumbeat of "Be My Baby" and it cuts to what you see below, basically. In the film, of course, we hear the opening piano chord of 'Brian Past' playing "God Only Knows" for Murry. Just goes to show what sequencing and pacing can do to totally change things up. As I recall, Cusack has his head down right after Banks kisses him and then we hear the piano cue up. Cut to Dano with his head down as he is working through the chord progression of GOK.



This second photo is a little harder to identify but I think it's from a scene where 'Brian Past' is watching TV in the living room with Marilyn as she sleeps on his shoulder. And he sees something in the news about a fire and says something to the affect of "LA's burning!" and freaks out thinking the "Fire Sessions" caused the fire in the news.



Hoping these and more are included among the deleted scenes included on the BD/iTunes HD release.

 

Lucky duck. I just noticed that one of the local 2nd run theaters here picked the film up starting Friday, August 14th. So I can go see it again a time or two before it's "gone, gone".

 

I just wish they had had Murry yelling, "I'm a genius, too, Brian!"

 

Believe it or not, it actually includes that line (at least, in the screenplay)

The scene in question ends thus:

 

The reason the “I’m a genius too” line from Murry on the “Help Me Rhonda” session tape is so funny is that it’s not part of a huge, bloated rant. It’s tossed off dismissively and quickly, with ironically excellent (if unintended) comedic timing.

A whole movie could be made about that session, trying to “teach” Al Jardine how to sing the song (extra ironic considering this was the second “remake” version of the song that they had already released on their previous album). “You gotta syncopate!”

 

Confirmation of post above.
Soundtrack digital release tomorrow.
CD in September.

http://www.brianwilson.com/news

1. The Black Hole – Atticus Ross
2. Don’t Worry Baby – The Beach Boys
3. Silhouette – Atticus Ross
4. God Only Knows – Paul Dano
5. God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
6. Believe – Atticus Ross
7. Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
8. Losing It – Atticus Ross
9. I’m Right Here – Atticus Ross
10. The Bed Montage – Atticus Ross, The Beach Boys, The Four Freshmen
11. Intersection – Atticus Ross
12. Love and Mercy (Live) – Brian Wilson
13. One Kind of Love – Brian Wilson