Wes Anderson’s “The Darjeeling Limited” is coming out on DVD February 26 and it will contain the prequel short, “Hotel Chevalier,” for those few that missed it. The thing that has about four dorks up in arms about is that the disc won’t be a Criterion Collection release as many of us (ourselves included) originally thought, and instead is coming out via 20th Century Fox.
It seems because Anderson’s last films were produced and distributed by Buena Vista/Touchstone, Criterion deals were easy because a relationship deal had already been the case. Not so with Fox apparently. And if the unsuccessful budget-to-box office ratio for ‘Darjeeling’ is any indication, it’s unlikely that Fox will make the leap for another Criterion DVD edition (the film cost approximately $23 million to make and domestically it only took in less than $12 mill).
If it indeed doesn’t happen, Anderson obsessives can at least take comfort in the fact that an expanded “Bottle Rocket” DVD is coming out on Criterion later this year (maybe we’ll finally get to see Judd Apatow’s wife, Leslie Mann in some deleted scenes. She was cut out of the original film).
While we were out trolling celebrity Itunes playlists yesterday (the “Juno” cast has their favorite tunes at the digital Apple store), we noticed that some of the ‘Darjeeling’ cast has posted their picks way back when. Anderson doesn’t give up much (maybe he’s afraid people will cherry pick his ideas), but he does give some other cuts not used in his films by Cat Stevens, Devo and newer songs by Phoenix, the Arcade Fire and the Pixies (he also notes that he almost used New Order’s “Ceremony” in ‘The Life Aquatic” – instead he ended up using it in the film’s trailer). Jason Schwartzman goes all self-promoy by schilling his musical project Coconut Records (the excellent duet with Kirsten Dunst, “This Old Machine” – though conflicting reports say it’s Zooey Deschanel), but also gives love to a eclectic bunch of artists like John Cale, Weezer, Broadcast, Steve Earle, Ween and The Strokes.
As we noted yesterday, in a bid to get Oscar attention, Fox Searchlight is giving free access to all of their 2007 film’s scripts, including ‘Darjeeling’s’ which you can download legally here. Anderson’s chances for an Oscars this year seem very slim. At best he could earn a screenplay nomination, but that seems unlikely. However, maybe there’s hope for “Hotel Chevalier” to score a short-film nod? (yeah, probably not)
Download: Coconut Records f/ Zooey Deschanel – “This Old Machine”
Download: Jyotitindra Moitra & Ustad Ali Akbar Khan – “Farewell to Earnest” (from “The Darjeeling Limited” soundtrack)
