Special Features: |
- Booklet (10 pages) features an essay by writer Jason Bailey.
- Introduction (2:10, HD) features writer/director Jeff Kanew, who walks through the highlights of his career and tries to sell the positive aspects of "Natural Enemies," envisioning it as an American Bergman film.
- Commentary features podcaster Bill Ackerman.
- "The Road to 'Natural Enemies': Part I" (23:18, HD) is a longform interview with writer/director Jeff Kanew, who charts his development as a kid from Brooklyn raised on movies and in search of fame. Through a connection, Kanew acquired an "office boy" job at United Artists, eventually finding himself in with the editors, learning the process. Kanew shares the evolution of the movie trailer business from the 1950s to the 1960s, soon participating in the profession, ending up with his own company. Directorial opportunities came with secret forays into adult cinema, including "The Wicked Die Slow," but a return to trailer work on "The Graduate" brought the young man to the majors, finding success and professional opportunities. The interviewee shares his mission to do something with popularity, eventually making the documentary, "Black Rodeo."
- "The Road to 'Natural Enemies' Part II" (44:18, HD) is a longform interview with writer/director Jeff Kanew, who reveals his filmmaking itch in the 1970s, finding his way to the book "Natural Enemies," inspired to make a film adaptation. Kanew details the extraordinary journey of the production, finding his way though the difficulties of casting, with Hal Holbrook refusing to commit to the endeavor, opening a door for Robert Duvall, who proved to be less than pleasant to deal with. With Robert Redford's involvement, Holbrook returned, and Kanew shares the actor's prickly relationship with co-star Louise Fletcher, who took the part simply because she had nothing else to do. The interviewee recalls his struggles with the bleak material and its multiple endings, also going into tensions on set, finding actress Viveca Lindfors quite unpleasant to work with. Kanew supplies wonderfully candid anecdotes about the making of "Natural Enemies," and his frustrations with distribution, watching the vultures of Hollywood take the feature away from him. Technical achievements are celebrated, and Kanew tracks his return to editing, eventually claiming a gig on Redford's "Ordinary People," which helped him to reconsider the conclusion of his own picture.
- Alternate Ending (1:58, HD) provides the "happy" version of the conclusion, created for the Los Angeles release of "Natural Enemies."
- Trailer (1:58, HD)
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