Here's an interesting excerpt from an Interview with Frank Oz:
Q: In 1998, a special edition DVD of Little Shop was released and immediately recalled because it contained this black-and-white work print with your commentary track. It remains a highly sought-after DVD, though there’s been a lot of discussion over the years about why that ending was released in the first place…
A: When Warner put the first DVD out, they called me and said, “Do I have the original ending?” And I said, yeah, I had it in black and white. It didn’t exist in color. So I gave it to them to use, and then the DVD came out for a short time with that black-and-white ending as a bonus feature. And then I got a call from David Geffen, and David said, “What are you doing?” I said, “What do you mean?” “Why did you give them the black-and-white version?” I said, “That’s all I had, I thought you were fine with that. I figured you and Warner were working together.” He said, “No, no, no — I have a color version.” “You have a color version?!” He said, “I have a color version. I don’t want the black-and-white version out, I want the color version out.” And so, you know, he’s the producer, so “Okay fine, it’s okay by me if you have the color.”
Q: Did he end up having the original ending in color?
A: He did not. I think he thought he had the color [version], but he probably didn’t understand the work print aspect of it. He probably assumed that there was a color ending somewhere. I was surprised. I thought maybe he duped it in color. David halted all the DVD sales because he wanted the better version of the ending, but that never came out. I’m assuming it’s because, David, in all sincerity, wanted to do a great job and thought he had the color and then probably someone told him, “We don’t have color,” and I think it kind of went away then.
Q: There have been rumors that the film will be re-released this coming Halloween with the original ending. Is it going to be re-released, and if so, will it contain the black-and-white work print or something more?
A: I don’t know actually, it’s interesting. They mentioned the idea of doing a DVD release and I thought, “That’s fantastic,” but I never knew about it. They just called me and told me. I was never part of it. I’m just thrilled they’re doing it.
Q: And to be clear, the color version of the original ending doesn’t exist anymore?
A: The color ending doesn’t exist. No, it’s still the black-and-white ending. It’s their film, so they’ll do what they want with it and I’m just glad that the audience has another way of seeing it.
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So, I guess they'll colorize the B&W work print? Or is it possible that a finalized color print still does exist? I've heard that the latter is true... but this is a fairly recent interview.
SOURCE
Updated On: 6/12/12 at 05:06 PM
YAY!!
