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Thanks for that, Matt.

At the very least, I am heartened that my memory was not too selective in this instance. The Cronenberg shout-out may not have come "early on" in the speech, and the response from the audience may not have been immediate -- but the overall gist of the recollection was sufficient. Not too bad for a now forty-year-old who spent many a day (and night) back in the late eighties and early nineties in less than shining clarity...

That's nice (and surprising). I remember him acknowledging Cronenberg, and thought that was pretty classy (and pretty rare, considering the laundry lists most winners trot out), but didn't remember any reaction to it.

(Though I still don't think a film like Dead Ringers had a snowball's chance in hell of getting nominated at the time!)

Even if few people saw the film when it came out and no Academy voter would be caught dead nominating a film like that in the era of Rain Man and Big, the special effects that allowed Irons to play against himself--and the nuanced performance(s) that he was able to give as a result--got a lot of media attention.

Grrr... nevermind...

OMG! Michael Jackson was sitting right in front of him!

No, that's Glenn Close. She's very talented.

And that's Madonna, sitting right next to MJ, who Irons leans down to kiss.

This thread doesn't mention why Dead Ringers originally went OOP, and now it's a Warner title- had Criterion licensed it from Warner Bros., or did the rights previously belong to someone else? Would love to see this (along w/ more Cronenberg) on blu ray..

It's a Morgan Creek title and was distributed theatrically by Fox. Anchor Bay eventually got the rights and they're the ones that licenced it to Criterion. I think Warner has the rights to all of the Morgan Creek titles now, up to a certain year and that's probably why they have it, though I could be mistaken on that.

Universal has been the primary distributor of Morgan Creek since The Good Shepherd, I believe. It's interesting you bring up the Warner Bros. deal because Young Guns came out the same year and is (AFAIK) licensed to Lionsgate.

How does the 2005 Warner disc compare to the Criterion? I rented the Criterion from a Hollywood Video years ago, never bothered with the Warner edition. I know the Warner disc has a newer commentary with Jeremy Irons only. Also begs the question of when Warner will give this the Blu Ray treatment.

Digital Fix review of the Warner US disc points out the better points compared to the Criterion, the better soundtrack, the anamorphic enhancement, and good extras, although some of the Criterion ones are missing.

Finally. Hopefully the compression used won't be bad.