Julie Taymor's ACROSS THE UNIVERSE hits DVD, Blu-ray and PSP on Feb. 5 (Sony Pictures Home Ent., $28.96, $38.96 and $24.94).
The colorful, psychedelic love story set against the turbulent '60s and featuring 33 Beatles songs, stars Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess, with appearances by Bono, Joe Cocker and Eddie Izzard.
"Coordinating the very concrete physical demands of high-end, choreographed theatrical performance and the more plastic world of visual effects required a degree of patience and flexibility not typically required for more standard visual effects work," VFX Designer Peter Crosman told VFXWORLD.
"But each of the sequences had very unique artistic and technical demands that required the kind of allocation to many companies that is more typical of a large-scale vfx film," he added.
A key assist goes to Gunnar Hansen, whose trippy color palette helped power a psychedelic-party sequence featuring U2's Bono as Dr. Robert in a spirited cameo singing "I Am the Walrus." Both Crosman and Hansen are affiliated with the Montreal-based FX Cartel. Tony Mabin came on board during post-production to assist Kyle Cooper's Prologue Films in Los Angeles, which had worked closely with Taymor on other projects and figures prominently in some of the film's graphic-animation sequences.
Blu-Ray Disc/Two-Disc DVD special features include:* Eight extended musical performances* Deleted Scene: "And I Love Her" -- with Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy* Commentary from director Taymor and composer Elliot Goldenthal* Five featurettes:"Creating the Universe" - cast and crew discuss the making of the film"Stars of Tomorrow" - an inside look at the cast of rising stars"All About the Music" - an inside look at the film's unforgettable music"FX on the Universe" - exploring the film's visual effects with VFX Supervisor Cooper"Moving Across the Universe" - on the choreography, including an interview with Choreographer Daniel Ezralow
Blu-Ray only includes an art gallery of Jude's drawings by Don Nace.
Sony Pictures Home Ent. is a Sony Pictures Ent. (www.sonypictures.com) company. SPE is a division of Sony Corp. of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corp. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
