David Lynch ("Mulholland Drive," "The Elephant Man") has revealed that footage thought lost forever from what some consider his greatest masterpiece, 1986's "Blue Velvet", was recently discovered and will be included in the upcoming Blu-ray release reports
Blu-ray.com.
Lynch's original cut of the film clocked in at around four hours. His contract with producer Dino De Laurentiis at the time obligated him to deliver a two-hour cut of the movie. As a result whole scenes and subplots were excised from the final version.
Lynch felt sure the footage had been destroyed. The filmmaker explained the situation in a recent interview with Los Angeles radio station KCRW - "I find out that Dino (De Laurentiis), the producer, doesn't know where they are. They're gone. His company went bankrupt, it was taken over by another company, and then it was sold to other companies. No one knew where they were, they were gone. So depressing."
He then went on to say "
Lately, those have been found. Somewhere up in Seattle. It's incredible. I'm seeing stuff I thought was gone forever. And hopefully some of those scenes... will end up on the new Blu Ray."
Not all will be included, Lynch admitting some simply "aren't worth putting back together", yet he's seeking out everything he can find "because some of these scenes on their own would be beautiful to see again".
The Blu-ray will also feature a brand-new 5.1 mix supervised by Lynch and his sound engineer Dean Hurley. The disc is scheduled to be released in France next month, no word yet on a U.S., U.K. or Australian release date.