JiminyCrick91 wrote:David Geffen has said he has the only existing colour copy (and the rights to this ending at all) so I expect it will be in colour now, right?
Frank Oz said David Geffen doesn't have a color copy. Here's the truth regarding the whole debacle:
Frank Oz: [...] So, Howard rewrote it and I shot it with a satisfying ending. The original one was in color, but when we ripped apart the ending, we had to take out the tape and then we had to reshoot the new ending and then retape that for another preview. So therefore, after the Los Angeles preview, there was no color ending. It didn’t exist because we had to take it apart. So the black-and-white [version] was a dupe, a copy of the original color ending that was made. I’m not sure why we made it, but we made it and that’s the only thing that was left, because there’s actually no color ending left.
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…
Frank Oz: 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?
Frank Oz: 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: And to be clear, the color version of the original ending doesn’t exist anymore?
Frank Oz: 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.
Source:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/05/15/f ... f-horrors/