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From the AV Club interview with Tim Blake Nelson:

AVC: I remember reading that the original cut of The Thin Red Line was something like six hours long. In a six hour cut I imagine everyone would have a lot more screen time.

TBN: Right, I wish I could see that movie.

AVC: Do you think that it will be released in any form?

TBN: You know, [Malick] had talked about doing a Japanese version that was six hours long but I’m not sure, actually. Terry and I are friends and I happen to know that he never did that. And Terry and my friendship, or his loose mentorship of me, is one of the great gifts of having done that part, even though I am not so much in that film.

The very best I could hope for is that the deleted scenes section is a bit like the one for This Is Spinal Tap, almost a little movie in and of itself. I also really hope Hans Zimmer is interviewed, since the score is among one of my all-time favorites.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:[. . .] the deleted scenes section [. . .]

It's interesting that this has so rapidly evolved from wild wishful thinking to absolute certainty, but I wouldn't be surprised if none of this material materializes. The guy does have a mystique to preserve, after all.

I hope Criterion gets Richard Shickel to supervise a new cut

The best I am hoping for is Mallick comes over to my apartment with 4 bottles of wine, a projector, the 6 hour cut on 35mm reels; he makes me dinner (maybe duck?), we watch the cut, then we watch it again with him narrating a commentary throughout, and then he puts me to bed and locks the door behind him after cleaning up the kitchen.

The worst I am expecting is a deleted scenes section on the Blu Ray with selected footage.

I think the likelihood of either of those scenarios is roughly equal.

Anyone have an idea when this will be announced properly?

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Anyone have an idea when this will be announced properly?

Around the fifteenth of the month. No idea what month, though.

My money is on a November release.

ShellOilJunior wrote:My money is a on November release.

Release before the Veteran's Day sounds reasonable, yes.

eerik wrote:

ShellOilJunior wrote:My money is a on November release.

Release before the Veteran's Day sounds reasonable, yes.

I was thinking more so to coincide with the release of Tree of Life.

Yeah, I thought so too but I'm really hoping the DVD comes out sometime while I'm still alive.

Peter Biskind's 1999 piece from the Vanity Fair archives.

Interesting article, despite Biskind's negative tone towards the man.

I love this comment too.
I have no idea what this article is really about (I can't bring myself to read it), but I must say that as a movie, The Thin Red Line sucked a$$.
Posted 4/22/2010 9:16:48amby parabellum

I don't understand how this article is from 1999, and talks about the film as if it hasn't come out, yet the film came out in 1998.

The Kubrick article (a must read btw) is similar, since it too, had already been out. albeit only a month. The Thin Red Line gap is almost a year though, which makes it far more puzzling.

willoneill wrote:I don't understand how this article is from 1999, and talks about the film as if it hasn't come out, yet the film came out in 1998.

Alphonse Doinel wrote:The Thin Red Line gap is almost a year though, which makes it far more puzzling.

Didn't The Thin Red Line get a platform release starting in late 1998? I believe there were limited screenings in NYC and LA and then they expanded through the first few months of 1999 to gear up for their Oscar push. Biskind was probably writing the article during the late stages of the film's production, likely targeting a submission for the annual Oscar issue of Vanity Fair. Maybe they bumped the article back after Malick picked up a nomination. I do remember Malick appearing in the Vanity Fair Oscar issue around that time, though I don't remember if it was in 1999 or later, so maybe they bumped the article back as a courtesy to him (or in exchange for his appearance in the magazine).

The August 1999 date on the VF site is incorrect. If you look at the image of the actual page from the magazine, it says December 1998 (just below the Badlands photo), which means it was on the stands in November.

It is up for pre-order at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003KGBIRA

Overheard Lee Kline talking last night at the Criterion event for "Mystery Train" at the Wexner Center in Columbus. He said that "The Thin Red Line" will, indeed, be the theatrical cut, with "some deleted scenes," the content of which he didn't seem to specify. Pretty sure he also said it was coming in November.

Fan's post on Criterion's Facebook page wrote: I see that The Thin Red Line already has a page (sans cover art) listed under "coming soon" on the Criterion.com page.

Did anybody see this on Criterion's site? Have checked both DVD and Blu "Coming Soon" tabs but cannot find.

CrazedCollector wrote:

Fan's post on Criterion's Facebook page wrote: I see that The Thin Red Line already has a page (sans cover art) listed under "coming soon" on the Criterion.com page.

Did anybody see this on Criterion's site? Have checked both DVD and Blu "Coming Soon" tabs but cannot find.

It's there. If you keep refreshing the main page it'll randomly appear in the Blu-ray "coming soon" section - has the title and generic wacky C placeholder cover art. The page link from it goes nowhere.

Why is it listed as having a 1.85:1 aspect ratio?

Other than that, the extras look stupendous

I have a feeling the cheap price for the DVD is a pricing mistake, if that's your format of choice, you might want to lock in that price by preordering now!