A Conversation with DVD Producer Laurent Bouzereau

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A Less Scholarly Approach
A Conversation with DVD Producer Laurent Bouzereau


Laurent Bouzereau is one of the hardest working film documentarians in the business. If he isn't producing, writing and directing a special edition documentary for DVD, then he's working on a book on film, like his The De Palma Cut, The Making of Star Wars: Episode I or Ultra Violent Movies. And as much as he hates to admit it, his work shows a little piece of himself. If you ask him, he'll tell you that what he does is to showcase memories about these films and the filmmakers behind them.
	But the truth is, he's our personal eyes, ears and voice rooting around in places that many of us will never have the opportunity to see. What he brings back for us - be it storyboards fromJaws, costume designs from Star Wars: Episode I or scenes edited out of our favorite movies - helps us to fill in all the missing pieces of our film-going collective conscience. Laurent's a humble man, but he loves movies and he loves what he does... and that's all that matters to us. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Laurent about what it takes to produce special edition DVDs. I asked him why the Jaws documentary was edited down from the laserdisc version and even got some info about the Conan disc. So pull up a chair and imagine Laurent's gentle French accent filling your mind's ear.
Todd Doogan (The Digital Bits): How do you enjoy working with the studios on your projects? You've had a very good relationship - for a very long time - with all the major studios. Laurent Bouzereau: I have nothing but great things to say about my relationships with the studios. I've been doing this work for six years - over six years - and, knock on wood, I've never had one problem. There's always dialogue and there's always ways of working things out, but like anything else in any kind of creative field, you sometimes have to make concessions and compromises so that the product works, because it is a product that you're designing. When there's money involved and everything, you can't just treat it as your own personal project. You have to work with a group of people and executives and everyone has ideas. It makes for a very collaborative effort. In my relationship with the studios, they've always been very supportive. Whenever I've had an idea, they've always listened. In most cases, they've always let me do what I wanted to do. That's why I have nothing but great things to say about all the studios I've worked with. I would say that they are also very attentive to the creative side of it, and I think they've always - each time they've watched a cut - they've always had very creative comments. There has never been a case where I've had to compromise my initial vision. Everything that is on the disc is what I have envisioned. I don't recall any case where I've had to cut things out. I have always felt that if I was linked to a specific running time, because of the format, it was more stimulating creatively to tell a story. Todd Doogan: It's a challenge to do that? Laurent Bouzereau: It's a real challenge. You're forced to really evaluate your material and to really say, "Okay... instead of four people saying the same thing, how about there just be one. Or maybe one will start the sentence and three finish it." It's a different approach. It's an education and it's a part of doing anything. I've written books, and it's the same thing. People will say to me, "That's too many pages. There's too many sentences and too many words in this." When you're a kid and you're in school, you abide by rules. And that doesn't change later on in life, unfortunately. I think it's a question of whether you want to make it a collaborative, creative relationship, or if you're going to want to fight the system. I have no interest in that, so I've always worked with people who have been very, very nice to me and have given me everything I need. Todd Doogan: How does it make you feel when you hear about other special edition producers having hard times with studio brass? Laurent Bouzereau: It gets very frustrating for me, to hear other experiences. I just can't believe anyone would have any problems. Todd Doogan: Does it help having worked with and getting comfortable with the big powerful filmmakers? If you're working with Spielberg and he says, "It's Laurent's thing," do the studios lay off you? Laurent Bouzereau: It doesn't work that way. It's like, initially before I get a project, I discuss it with the studio and I understand their needs or what the parameters are. That's what happens. It's true that sometimes I've wanted to do a project and instead of going to the studio, knowing that it may not be a project they would like to do, I've tried to get the director on board or someone else attached to the project. You do that for anything. So I say, "Look, we have some enthusiasm here, why don't we try and do that?" But let's not misinform - of course, if you're doing something for Steven Spielberg, everybody pretty much lines up. With this Hitchcock project (I'm doing), obviously Hitchcock is not around anymore, so it takes a little more talking about which is the best way to go. Overall, it's all very collaborative and there's a lot of dialogue going on between all of us - the director, myself and the studio - throughout the project. And I put everything in writing so… Todd Doogan: They sign off on the original plan, and that's that. Laurent Bouzereau: So that we stay on the same page the whole time. Todd Doogan: Gotcha. With a project like Jaws, you said something to me a while back and I just wanted to clarify it. You said that the market is different for laserdisc than it is for DVD, and that's why you edited down the documentary appearing on both discs. Laurent Bouzereau: I think that, laserdiscs where really for a very small percent of the population. You have to look at the number of people who owned a laserdisc player - it was very small. And I think they were a lot more like film scholars than your average viewer. Now, with DVD, I think it's slowly replacing videocassette. Eventually it will - the second it can record and those recordable players are cheap. So I think you need to cater to your audience to get them in with something that is less dry and with a less scholarly approach. I'm not putting a negative emphasis on this, I just think it's important. Just like a movie needs to be commercial. If you're dealing with something dark and somber, or something political, you'll make it somewhat commercial because you want the audience to marry to the idea. Here I am, in a completely different medium, talking to a much wider audience, a young audience. You're trying to cater to a newer audience, an audience that's used to The Matrix - an audience that's used to quickly paced and quickly cut mediums. You have to adjust to that if you want to transcend the market - if you want to reach a much broader audience. You can't just live in your own little world and do what you think is right. You still have to do what you think is right, but in addition ask yourself, "How do I reach as many people as possible?" I think this is done by reevaluating and re-looking at material and saying, "How can I say the same thing, but in a more exciting way and with more faster pace and less scholarly?" Todd Doogan: The 20th anniversary edition laserdisc of Jaws featured a documentary that was about twice as long as the one featured on the DVD. What was edited out of the original documentary? Laurent Bouzereau: I basically looked at the documentary and I had the whole documentary transcribed onto paper, because I'm an old-fashioned guy and do everything on paper, and so I looked at each title. The stuff that was taken out was really... instead of taking out segments, I tried to shorten segments instead. You're not really missing stories, as much as you're getting a faster overview of the same thing. I recall going through the transcripts, thinking to myself, "Try and keep the same structure and the same story and just make them shorter." I don't think I compromised anything. If anything was cut, there might have been more about the Orca going under, but I remember thinking that people want to know about the shark, and not about the boat. Things like that. With this, you learn to prioritize, but it's fun and fascinating. At the beginning, I was... not upset but more like I didn't want to have to touch my thing. It was my favorite documentary that I've done and all that. But then I was really excited about revisiting it. It was very exciting, because I was like, "Wow... now I get to have an opening montage" and I didn't get to have an opening montage before. I'm going to have more pictures and clips and I'm going to illustrate even more. It was very exciting. Todd Doogan: Where there any other supplements lost, or was all that stuff moved over? Laurent Bouzereau: All of that, I believe, is intact. Todd Doogan: So the documentary was the only thing altered? Laurent Bouzereau: I believe so. There is something to be said. I've read an interview that said that this edited version makes for a much more exciting viewing even though it's been cut. I agree with that. I really do. Todd Doogan: By making it more accessible to a younger audience? That's your philosophy of retooling a laserdisc to DVD? Laurent Bouzereau: You know, I haven't really had to do that before, so I don't know what lies in the future for me in that respect. In terms of Jaws, even the packaging is different. It's a different kind of look. Yeah, it's more accessible, it's more compact... but it tells you as much. So there. [laughs] Todd Doogan: Will you be working on the Close Encounters disc? Laurent Bouzereau: Yeah. That's not been green-lit yet by Mr. Spielberg. But yeah, when that happens I'll be involved. Todd Doogan: Are you planning all new material? Laurent Bouzereau: I'm not planning anything because we don't have a green-light. Todd Doogan: You've said that you sometimes come to the studios for some ideas that you have - things they might overlook. Do you come with a package in your hand saying, "This is what I want to do," or do you say, "Boy... I'd really like to do THAT title"? Laurent Bouzereau: Let me put it this way, when you approach a studio about anything, don't just come with just an idea. Come with a budget, the talent that you have, the structure with everything done on paper already. You come in, show them a proposal, show them who is going to be interviewed, how much it's going to cost and how long it's going to be. Then they say "yes" or "no". Don't ever go to a production company without anything. It's like being a writer and going into a meeting saying you want to write a "boy meets girl" script. You can't sell an idea to studio unless it's really high-concept. Each time I approach someone about a project, it's never about a title but rather a reason for doing it. In fact, there's a title that's been out a couple months now and I wish I had known it was coming out. I recently approached the studio and said, "Did you know this movie had this about it, and that about it? Do you realize you missed out on a huge opportunity to make this title really special." They just threw it out with nothing on it. I pointed out these few things and suddenly they're like, "Oh, my God - you're right. Send us an email and we'll take a look at it." Todd Doogan: Can you say which one it is? Laurent Bouzereau: No. [laughs] Todd Doogan: Has it ever happened that you were casually talking to the studio brass one sunny day and just conversationally said, "You know what - I would like to do this title." And they said, "Okay. Do it." Laurent Bouzereau: Oh, yeah. It happens all the time. Todd Doogan: So sometimes it works out. Laurent Bouzereau: Yeah. But I would never just say, I want to do "blank." Again, I would say this is why we should do "blank." Todd Doogan: Then you'd already have a couple of stories lined up, even at that level. Laurent Bouzereau: Oh, yeah. I never just throw a title up in the wind. Sometimes, they themselves might not even have seen the movie and know where I'm coming from. Todd Doogan: Are there any titles that you really wanted to do but didn't get the opportunity to do them? Laurent Bouzereau: Yeah, there are some. The James Bond movies - I'm really unhappy that I didn't get a chance to work on those. I didn't try and pitch them, but... The Omen is being done at Fox, I wished I'd pushed that. Sure, there are tons of stuff I wished I'd done. But the good thing is that there are things that haven't been done yet that I want to do. So, maybe I'll get a chance to do them. Todd Doogan: Are there things that you're working on now, or are they hush-hush? Laurent Bouzereau: I dunno if anything is "hush-hush". I'm working on Somewhere in Time, some David Lean movies and the Universal Hitchcocks. Unfortunately, I'm not doing the others for the other studios. I wish I did North By Northwest at Warner. Todd Doogan: Let me ask you about the Conan the Barbarian DVD. Were there any other deleted scenes from that film that you uncovered, because I have always read that there was a ton of stuff cut out of that film - more than what was on the DVD. Is that everything that you know about? Laurent Bouzereau: That was pretty much everything that we found. That was a very hard disc, because it was hard to find material. Pretty much everything else I saw was beginning and ending of takes. You know... there are a lot of urban legends about that movie, and I'm pretty sure everything you have on that disc is what is out there. There was talk of some wheel of pain shots and some more crucifixion stuff, but when I looked at the footage, that was all I found. Todd Doogan: Did you go through John Milius to get the footage? Laurent Bouzereau: No, I got the footage from Universal. Milius doesn't have anything. When you do a movie for a studio, the studio keeps everything (or destroys everything for that matter). You also have what's called a line script and that explains to you the scenes that were shot and they're all numbered so you can look at the script and you see the scene with that special number. I call the studio and tell them I want to see scene number blank and they pull out the inventory and give me the scene if it's there. Todd Doogan: How do you like working with DVD? Is it something that's appealing to you so far? Laurent Bouzereau: I love doing documentaries, but I don't see myself working "in DVD". I see myself documenting these movies, so whatever DVD becomes, I don't care as long as I'm around to document these movies further. The only frustrating aspect with DVD is that it's a kind of schizophrenic medium right now, where it's changing constantly and the demand is really big. I think there are a lot of things people are exploring right now in terms of content and how long it is. It's continually changing and I don't really have the time to stop and study every single one that comes out to see what's being done somewhere else, so that I can improve my style and change things around to make it more current. I find it a little frustrating working in a medium that's constantly moving and changing. I try not to be a slave to the technology. If I was working on a movie like The Matrix, I'd be in big trouble because I don't really... some of the aspects of that DVD are mind-boggling. All the different stuff on that disc has to be thought out. But before you think about it, you have to know it can be done. Because I work on such old movies, it's a different approach for me. I'm lucky to find a trailer sometimes. Sometimes I have to invent material to put on the disc. My goal is to just document these movies that I've been asked to document. Todd Doogan: Is there anything important you want people to know - fans of your work or people who notice your name on the back of a DVD and know there's going to be a level of quality to the disc? Laurent Bouzereau: You know, I really don't see myself as a name. I'm just very lucky to have worked on great movies and that's what people should look for... these great movies. If I'm lucky enough to be attached to it, then I hope that people who watch my stuff feel I've done justice to it. There are a lot of people out there doing what I do, and they do a great job, and it all has to do with the picture. Hey... it would be hard to do a bad documentary on Jaws. You'd have to really try hard to do that. I'm thrilled to have these opportunities and I'm excited that other people are excited to share the memories that I have filmed. Todd Doogan: I appreciate very much your taking some time out of your busy schedule to talk with me. Laurent Bouzereau: Well, I just hope it helped. I don't feel like I have anything really to say. It's just a job. Todd Doogan: It's very helpful. And it is a job, but it's a job that touches a lot of people. Without you doing it - and in your mind you're probably thinking, "Someone else would do it." But I'm glad it's you that's doing it, because you really care about this work and we're living through what you do. You're making choices for us. Although, I must say... I don't necessarily agree with your thought that DVD is so mainstream that it's not for scholars. Laurent Bouzereau: I think that there... you know my background obviously. I'm French. I grew up in France and there is a culture there that is really annoying where they are incapable of educating people through entertainment. They can't do it. They either do something very stupid and commercial and brainless, or they do something so intellectual that only the person that did it can understand it. That's why I came to this country - because I felt that even with the most commercial movies like Jaws, you can find a lot of intellectual ideas and stimulating concepts. Jaws to me is the quintessential film for having everything. Substance, art, camerawork - everything is in that movie, everything that art can have. I think that because suddenly the market is so big for DVD, I think there is a way to cross over. I'll talk to people - some very smart people - about the making of these films, but their attention span is very short. So you can't ignore that. There's a way to appeal to both the real film aficionados like yourself, who aren't going to be easily satisfied unless a fair amount of things are revealed, said and presented, and at the casual viewer. I don't think that if I did the Conan special edition for laserdisc, I would have included the gag at the end of the credits. I would have never put that on the laser. Suddenly you're making a show, hooking people by entertaining them and surprising them. I think there's a difference there, even if the result is the same. The other thing is, these documentaries are the last time these movies are going to be documented, maybe in 50 years. But there probably isn't going to be another documentary made about The Birds or Marnie - there is not. There may be other documentaries that mention these films, but not devoted to them specifically. Not for any other reason than there will be other things to do. So it's very important for me to be as thorough as possible. I have a responsibility to make these films the definitive reference, and I take it very seriously. To me, for a fanatic like you who knows these movies so well, if you call me and tell me that all the answers were there and I feel I want to see this movie again, then that is a great compliment. That's what's important. Todd Doogan: Well... like I said, I'm glad you're doing what you do. ---end--- The staff of The Digital Bits would like to thank Laurent for taking the time to talk with us. Thanks also to Irene Deane at Jane Ayer Public Relations and the kind folks at Universal Home Video for their help. And be sure to read my reviews of Jaws and Conan the Barbarian. Keep spinning those discs! Todd Doogan todddoogan@thedigitalbits.com