Source: Premiere May 2005

Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut DVD set

Available May 23, 2006

Details from DVD active [Thanks to David for the info!!!]

Fox has announced a director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven which stars Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson. This new four-disc special edition will be available to own from the 23rd May, and should retail at around $34.98. The film itself will be presented in anamorphic widescreen, along with both English Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 Surround tracks. Extras will include an introduction by Ridley Scott, an audio commentary with Ridley Scott, Writer William Monahan, executive producer Lisa Ellzey, film editor Dody Dorn, visual effects supervisor Wes Sewell and first assistant director Adam Somner, some story notes, a multi-part documentary entitled Path to Redemption (Part I: Good Intentions, Part II: Faith and Courage, Part III: The Pilgrimage Begins, Part IV: Into The Promised Land, Part V: The Burning Bush and Part VI: Sins and Absolution), a "Tripoli" Overview & Gallery, a first draft screenplay by William Monahan, Screen Tests, cast rehearsals, a Costume & Weapon Design featurette, multiple galleries (location scouting, production design, conceptual art, and costume), and a Creative Accuracy: The Scholars Speak feature. Completing the package will be storyboard comparisons, an Unholy War: Mounting The Siege featurette, deleted and alternate scenes, a sound design suite, visual effects breakdowns, a press junket walkthrough, footage of the Japanese and London premieres, multiple trailers and tv spots, a ShoWest Presentation, and footage of the Director's Cut and DVD campaign. Stay tuned for the official region one package artwork.

Kingdom of Heaven original DVD

The Kingdom of Heaven DVD was released on Tues, Oct 11. Edward Norton has a small role in the film as Baldwin IV, the Christian king of Jerusalem who suffers from leprosy. Although he is in only about 6 scenes, his performance was consistantly singled out for praise in reviews. The DVD is a two disc set with numerous special features. I was hoping for a Ridley Scott commentary, but there are no audio commentaries with the film. They apparently have a text commentary they refer to as "The Pilgrim's Guide" that includes details about the making of the film and the historical background. Disc 1 includes the film itself, "The Pilgrim's Guide" option, combo trailer, "Inside Look: Tristan and Isolde" (the KOH DVD site mentions this feature but does not describe it). Disc 2 - the hyped feature about this DVD set is the interactive production grid where the viewer can choose which featurettes to watch up to about 125 minutes worth of material. "There are no less than 16 different ways to experience The Grid." Big fat hairy deal. I'm more interested in the content, which is not explained in the promotional info. There are additional features mentioned, but I'm not sure whether or not they are part of "The Grid". I didn't want to write that there is all this extra material and find out that they were all just a part of "The Grid" . From the reviews, they would seem to be standalone featurettes. Here they are: "A&E Movie Real: Kingdom of Heaven" (approx 45 min), The History Chanel's "History vs Hollywood: Kingdom of Heaven" (approx 48 min), Ridley Scott - "Creating Worlds" featurette, Production featurette, Wardrobe featurette, Orlando Bloom "The Adventure of a Lifetime" featurette. And more trailers. It's available in two formats: widescreen and full screen. The packaging on both seems to be virtually identical, so double check before you buy it. Kingdom of Heaven DVD (widescreen). Kingdom of Heaven DVD (full screen)

More about EN's role

The Boston Herald (5/17/05) has sheds some light on why EN took the job.

Why, oh why, would any actor want to play a role where he's literally invisible?
"It was for kicks," said "Kingdom of Heaven" co-star and Oscar-nominated Edward Norton, who plays Jerusalem's 12th-century Christian king, a leper whose silver mask covers all but his eyes.
Norton said he pined to work with Ridley Scott, but when the "Kingdom" director offered him only the role as the evil French baron, Ed took a pass.
He had already played enough bad guys, including his most recent turn in "Down in the Valley," his Cannes entry that he also co-produced.
In 'Valley,' Norton rides the San Fernando Valley freeways as a twisted modern cowboy who lusts for a teenage girl played by Evan Rachel Ward.
"So who's playing the guy in the mask?," Norton said he asked Scott.
And Ridley replied, "I'll get someone with a good James Mason voice."
So Norton, using his best James Mason voice, then left a message on the director's voice mail - and got the part!

The Boston Herald (5/6/05) has a short article ('Heaven' can't mask talent of Norton) with comments by co-star Eva Green about working with EN. 'Heaven' can't mask talent of Norton

Cynics might assume that Norton, as a favor to Scott, voiced the role while an anonymous actor toiled on location as a body double. That theory would explain why Norton opted out of billing alongside supporting players Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons and Eva Green, the 24-year-old French actress who plays Baldwin's sister, Princess Sibylla. But those cynics would be wrong.
"When I read the script, Baldwin was one of my favorite roles; he moved me so much," Green said. "And then when I screen tested, it was with Orlando Bloom and Edward Norton. Edward is one of my favorite actors. He's an idol."
Green's first scene with Norton was Baldwin's death scene.
"It was extremely difficult," she said. "I had to pretend that this was my brother, and I thought, 'How can I do this? I can't. I can't.' I was so stressed out. I don't know how to translate that into English, but I was a bit disturbed because when he did this scene, he reminded me of someone I knew who was dying. Edward has the sensitivity of a child and is able to do anything - anything. He's very rare as an actor. It was like a dream."

The film's U.S. release date is May 6.

Kingdom of Heaven official site

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